This year we survived “The End of the World” and some bad movies as well. But, there were some truly amazing movies that were released this year. Sadly I have not seen every major release this year, but I tried my best. With that being said, here are my picks of the best/worst of 2012. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- Pure adrenaline rush wrapped in a complex and intriguing plot. Also it features two excellent turns from two of Hollywood’s most effective leading men. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- An incredible film, based on an incredible book, which is as immensely heartwarming and funny as it is dysfunctional. The chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence is engaging and very nearly the…
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The Real House-Guests of 'Argo' Weigh In On Affleck's Vision
Argo deserves high praise and admiration for a plethora of different reasons, but one of its greatest strengths happens to be one of the most invisible elements in the entire production: the very real people whose story it captures happen to be ready, willing, and able to bolster the film’s integrity. True, the details of the operation Ben Affleck dramatized in arguably his best movie to date (and certainly one of the best movies of 2012) have been declassified for years, so in making Argo he benefited significantly from the passage of time, but there’s something to be said for not only having documentations of the truth at one’s fingertips,…
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“What’s New on Blu?” – Week of 12/31/12
Here we are standing on the cusp of 2012, eagerly anticipating the unforeseen promise which 2013 holds. We survived “The End of the World” and some bad movies along the way. But, 2012 was a great year overall and we were privileged to bare witness to some amazing movies as well. Check out what’s hitting the shelves this week as we start off the week in 2012 and transition into 2013. Happy New Year to all of you, from all of us at GoSeeTalk.com. ——————————————————————————————————————————— In the year 2042, a mob hitman assassinates targets that arrive from the future of 2072. For him it’s just a job… till he receives…
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G-S-T Review…Not Fade Away
I left my recollection of David Chase’s Not Fade Away in the theater shortly after walking out during the credits. Maybe that sounds like bad news, and maybe I’m putting myself in a hole by starting off my review on that note, but truthfully, memorability happens to be Not Fade Away‘s biggest Achilles’ heel. Chase hasn’t made a bad film, not by any stretch of the means, but he’s made one that suffers from diminishing returns, one which our connection to slackens and grows hazier the longer that the picture runs. He’s also made a picture about listless, directionless youth; appropriately, Not Fade Away meanders and lazes as much as its…
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Definitely Dead: Summit Shows Off the First Four Minutes of 'Warm Bodies'
More than a few of us have likely wondered at one point or another what goes through a zombie’s head on a daily basis. Do they remember who they were? Can they conjure up any thoughts on what life used to be like before, well, death? Is their only concern finding their next meal? Back in 2011, Isaac Marion sought to answer this question with his YA novel, Warm Bodies, and this coming February Jonathan Levine will follow up the success of 50/50 with an adaptation of Marion’s book. If you’re like me, you’re excited for this and you’re not embarrassed in the slightest; the story is very clearly a descendant of Twilight, but…
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Off the Netflix Queue…’Bernie’
Bernie, Richard Linklater’s black comic docudrama about Bernie Tiede, has two great tricks up its sleeve. The first happens to be Carthage, Texas, the city in which both the events that inspired the film and the events that occur within the film take place. Choice in location may not seem like an impressive sleight of hand, but Linklater so successfully installs his production “behind the pine curtain” that we’re not only transported to Carthage proper, we’re drawn into their culture. The townsfolk we meet– bona fide Carthage residents who knew Tiede and witnessed the circus surrounding his 1998 trial– breathe rural, down-home authenticity into Bernie, but more importantly they talk…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Favorite Casino Heist Films
Among the many established or iconic locales famous for gambling, the Las Vegas Strip has been a very popular cinematic setting over the years. From films like Warren Beatty’s Bugsy (1991), the Joe Pesci/Robert De Niro classic Casino (1995), hell even Chevy Chase’s Vegas Vacation (1997), there’s something undeniably cool and edgy about “The Strip” (except maybe that National Lampoon one). Yet in the city of sin, or wherever you try and find Lady Luck, when you pony up to the tables sometimes you’re putting more than just some colorful chips on the line. Unfortunately, as one Danny Ocean astutely comments, the underlying rule is that “the house always wins“, but it’s not always the case as…
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G-S-T Review…Django Unchained
If there’s one filmmaker who marches to the beat of his own drum, it’s Quentin Tarantino. Raised on a healthy cinematic diet of spaghetti westerns, gritty 60’s/70’s cult classics, not to mention pretty much everything in the Australian documentary Not Quite Hollywood and more, he has become one of the film world’s most talented and widely accepted acquired tastes. From Pulp Fiction to Jackie Brown to Kill Bill to his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, QT has learned so much about how to make film that Django Unchained might just be the pinnacle of his efforts. So how does Tarantino weave that special kind of magic? Simple, outright theft. Now that’s not…
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G-S-T Review…Parental Guidance
As we turn the page from one year to another and one decade to the next, new and different styles of film making trends emerge. The 80’s are forever cemented in history with blockbuster hits from Steven Spielberg and a plethora of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone action flicks. In the 90’s we transitioned to Die Hard and more empathetic characters. As we rolled into the new millennium technology began growing exponentially and so did the use of CG. Another trend that has emerged over the past decade is over-the-top comedy. With every movie it seems the bar is set even higher for shock factor. Movies have gotten to the…
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G-S-T Trailer Round-Up: Drive Blue, Pain & Bay, and Apocalypse
The Mayans may have been wrong about the end of the world, but don’t worry– the Go, See, Talk! Trailer Round-Up is here with two visions of Armageddon to slake your thirst for wanton destruction. Of the pair, the first isn’t a literal Ragnarok, but rather a localized catastrophe that devours an entire city; then again, when your film is set against a backdrop of explosions, crumbling buildings, and rapidly rising social anarchy, maybe that counts as the wholesale destruction of a cinematic world. Either way, Aftershock looks harsh, nasty, and bonkers in all the right ways, though I’ll take bets on how long Eli Roth actually survives in the film (and on…