People Like Us is a very compelling story of two strangers drawn together by a mutual secret. While both of these strangers are on the brink of an emotional meltdown it seems finding one another might be the key to finding themselves. The film takes us through an emotional journey of loss, deep-rooted pain and then a powerful sense of redemption. People Like Us is a dramedy which leans a little more toward drama than comedy. It’s hard not feel a deep emotional connection to the characters in this film. Sam (Chris Pine – Star Trek, Unstoppable) is a salesman on the proverbial ropes who begrudgingly returns to Los Angeles when…
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“The CineMagic 8-Ball” – In Theaters 6/29/12
When so many movies are released each weekend and trailers often seem better than the movie itself, what should one do? In this precarious situation, we consult the The CineMagic 8-Ball (TM) to help us see through the nebulous marketing haze. Doing so just might save us all a disheartening trip to the cinema and spare us unnecessarily springing for $7 popcorn. See what the 8-Ball says about this week’s releases… ——————————————————————————————————————————————- MAGIC MIKE Set in the world of male strippers, Mike takes a young dancer called The Kid under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money. At first…
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G-S-T Review…This Means War
The romantic comedy genre usually has one thing down pat: the comedy. Even if you simply roll your eyes at the romance of it, they are usually genuinely funny. Unless they are This Means War, one of the weakest efforts from the romantic comedy genre I have seen in the past few years. That’s a shame because some of the trailers hint at something that takes a different and fresh approach. For instance, what if two buddy spies fell for the same girl, and used all of the tools available to them to take advantage of the situation? That should be an interesting premise. Turns out what is written on…
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G-S-T Review…Unstoppable
Half of the iconic Scott Free Productions, Tony Scott, in this run away train movie, provides plenty of action and fast paced tension. Really, for a movie about a train, it’s a lot better than you’d expect. Unstoppable makes for an enjoyable time even if it confines itself to the trappings of most actioners: 2 men, 1 task, a race around the clock, yadda yadda yadda. Yes it’s an old formula but it still works. It still it feels like Tony is always making films that try to be like his big brother Ridley’s but he always seems to fall short in terms of graneur and scale. As Ridley goes the more…
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Off the Shelf…'Smokin' Aces'
With The A-Team hitting theaters next Frriday, I figured I would take a look at Joe Carnahan‘s previous actioner Smokin’ Aces. In the wake of Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, it seemed like writer/director Joe Carnahan wanted to try his hand at a film involving a huge cast with interweaving plots and laced with criminal stylings. This may have proven to be too ambitious as it just didn’t come to fruition as I had hoped. Along the way Smokin’ Aces did have a fair amount of good things going for it but overall, this was a let down.
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Off the Shelf…'Star Trek'
I can proudly say that after years of being a “born and raised” Star Wars fan, I am now starting to lean the other way…no, not the Dark Side, but I believe I am becoming a “neo-Trekker”. Weird, but this is the best ‘sci-fi’ film I’ve seen in a while and it really got me considering the other Space Opera property that I had overlooked for so long. Also Star Wars has just become continually disappointing since Episode I, so for me this is a welcomed change of pace. So here we are with J.J. Abrams‘ masterful direction of a Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman screenplay (we’ll forgive them for their Revenge of…