Without a doubt, The Intouchables proves that humor can be found even in unfortunate situations with the right mindset. A film about a quadriplegic and his caretaker shouldn’t be this fun, yet writer/directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano pull it off with the perfect amount of heart, humor, and adventure. Based on a true story, the film follows a wealthy quadriplegic that hires a young man from the projects to take care of him. Despite everything saying that this is a bad idea, Philippe (François Cluzet) thinks Driss (Omar Sy) holds the key to genuine sympathy and a say-anything attitude that is sorely missing in his life. Throughout their journey they grow…
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G-S-T Review…Snow White and the Huntsman
There’s little ingenious, clever, or new about a dark fairy tale; the grisly and the horrific have been hallmarks of such folkloric narratives since the Brothers Grimm put pen to paper two hundred years ago. In that same respect, there’s nothing overtly offensive about them either, at least not at face value, as a veneer of darkness in contemporary fairy tale fare can just be interpreted as a dedication to tradition. Faithfulness to either tone or detail does not comprise one of Snow White and the Huntsman‘s glaring flaws, however; for just shy of two hours, the film tries gamely to assert itself as worthy sword-and-sorcery filmmaking. At times, it…
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G-S-T Review…Men In Black 3
There’s an old saying that when you’re at rock bottom you can only go up. That certainly describes the MIB series after the hugely disappointing sequel from 2002. Even after a decade, that film still leaves a bitter taste. However, at G-S-T we always root for a redeeming sequel. Did we get one? Well almost, but again, anything would fare better than MIB 2. What’s most enjoyable is that this film, and series really, is so familiar that it’s almost like no time has passed since we saw Agents J and K save the Earth for the first time way back in 1997. Here come the Men In Black *clap clap* and Agents J and…
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G-S-T Review…Chernobyl Diaries
Curiously enough, Chernobyl Diaries may mark the first non-found footage found footage film. While constructed using mostly a straight narrative approach, there’s a nagging sense that this cautionary horror jaunt (penned and backed by Paranormal Activity mastermind Oren Peli) may have actually benefited from more fully embracing the tricky conceit; it’s shot like a found footage movie, it’s crafted like a found footage movie, it scares like a found footage movie, and the title’s reference to “diaries” naturally leads us to conclude that someone, somewhere, came across the footage we’re watching by unhappy accident. But those eponymous documents are nowhere to be found in an hour and a half of story. Chernobyl Diaries bases…
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G-S-T Review…Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson films aren’t for everyone as he’s definitley an acquired taste. However, those that get his films, kind of like David Cronenberg (only way more accessible), really dig his work. Regardless of whether you are a fan of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore or The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson, with help from co-writer Roman Coppola, crafts an adorable and endearing film about young lovers who cast off the rules and opinions of others. This story is almost an on-screen representation of just who Anderson is. As a film maker, he does what he wants, how he wants it and most times the stories are better for it. So too are the young characters who are ultimately the…
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G-S-T Review…Battleship
If you feel the need to blame someone for the birth, production, and release of Battleship— as I do– look no further than Michael Bay. The proprietor of shining contemporary examples of big spectacle gone very, very stupid, Bay brought the “movies based on toy lines” movement to life in 2007 with Transformers; two sequels and a G.I. Joe film later (which itself is getting sequelized this summer), and that childish aesthetic shows no signs of abating in the near future. Battleship proves to be the loudest and dumbest toy-to-cinema adaptation yet (barring last year’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon), a soulless, pointless, hollow cacophony of trite cliches and boring…
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G-S-T Review…Dark Shadows
A common fact easily overlooked: television isn’t the same medium as film. As modes of visual storytelling, they may bear a family resemblance, but they represent long-form versus short-form approaches to narrative. In short, the rules, as well as the limitations and advantages, differ greatly for both. A television show has room to breathe and stretch its legs by its very nature, for example, while a movie is more contained by its own. Conflating the two, then, is a mistake, and one which Tim Burton makes repeatedly throughout Dark Shadows, his interpretation of the identically-titled 1960s/70s televised Gothic soap opera; the result is so overstuffed and hopelessly rushed that there’s…
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G-S-T Review…The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Older actors have fewer and fewer roles. Sure, some male leads have consistent roles here and there (often as villains who don’t do any action), but the women have little to show. The Hollywood system is cruel in that it will use you for the best years of your life and spit you out just when you become comfortable. Not so in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Oscar-winning director John Madden’s latest. The film follows a group of retirees in England who decide to take a chance and jump at an advertisement for an exotic hotel in India recently renovated just for the “elderly and beautiful”. These leads to many interesting…
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G-S-T Review…The Avengers
After leaving The Avengers, the first thought likely to come to mind is wow, wow and more WOW. That’s right comic friends, Joss Whedon isn’t joking around with this one. He delivers the comic book experience fans have been anticipating since Stan Lee co-created these iconic heroes decades ago. In what is the most ambitious and large scale comic film to date, there is no shortage of spectacle, excitement and near-epic story all rolled into one 142 minute feature. Whedon is known for being a fan boy at heart and as such delivers this film with such respect to not only the comics but also, and maybe more importantly, the fans. Nothing…
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G-S-T Review…Sound of My Voice
Following the success of her previous film Another Earth, Brit Marling gives us a new story, on par with Christopher Nolan level brilliance, that similarly messes with your mind and your beliefs. Sound of My Voice is about a purported time traveler, only there’s no machine, no demarcation of time, no futuristic setting or locales and probably most depressing of all, there’s no real proof. So what makes this interesting? Like Nacho Vigalondo has done with did with Timecrimes, the film shows that a less-is-more approach can make for a very engaging story. Sound of My Voice grabs hold of you and never lets go, nor do you want it to. Like curiosity that killed the cat, once it gets going you,…