The idea behind Dan Fogleman’s Crazy, Stupid, Love seems to recall the lyric from the Joe song that goes, “bottom line, Love don’t make no sense“. In life, somethings you do are crazy, somethings you do are stupid but more so when you do it because you’re in love. Yet his film is less about going after what you really want. It tries (in typical rom-com fashion) to get you to find out who you are before you can start doing those crazy stupid things. Yeah, I guess that’s the best way to start this all off.
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G-S-T Review…Transformers: Dark of the Moon
2011 finds more and more movies following the trend that places some of the plot in the 60s and why not? It adds a level of depth and intrigue to the story right? In the case of X-Men First Class, yes. In Cars 2, not so much. Here, it’s an inspired move but the idea of using the Space Race and Moon landing as a way of covering up the arrival of the Autobots didn’t quite come around as impacting as it led on in those trailers. But it does make for a lead in to one helluva great action piece delivering the “Bayhem” and overly over-the-top style you’d expect…
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G-S-T Review…Cars 2
Cars 2 improves on a sequel in every way possible. Sure, many cite 2006’s Cars for being the weakest link in the Pixar chain so making a better sequel was hardly going to be a Herculean effort. Still while Lasseter’s nostalgic trip down memory lane may have been too simple for fans of the animation powerhouse, Cars 2 finds itself more in company with The Incredibles, Wall E and even Finding Nemo with its rousing story, action pieces and tons of eye candy. Much less a look back at his own past, Cars 2 becomes a purely cinematic nostalgia trip, one whose influences find themselves making more than passing homages…
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G-S-T Review…Super 8
What is Super 8? Is it a throw-back kid driven adventure story? Is it a coming of age film with endearing characters? Is it an oddly familiar sci-fi story from two master storytellers re-branded for a new generation? Well it’s all of it and more but in short Super 8 is the kind of movie that reaffirms why people go the movies. In this mysterious, fun and fast moving film J.J. Abrams writes a love letter to Steven Spielberg in a way that will delight fans of all genres and age groups. However while I found it tough to stay away from the hype I have to say this didn’t…
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G-S-T Review…X-Men: First Class
Going into yet another X-Men film would make even the most die hard fan weary. I mean, after the last two strike outs this seemed like the last at bat for The Uncanny. But dear friends, in this stylized throwback Singer wound up, hurled one over the plate and Vaughn knocked that grapefruit back, waaay back and out of the park. A new and different X-Men for a new generation, First Class, with confident strides, takes the X-Men series out of the ICU. As a fan myself I breathed a sigh of relief and then had to catch it after seeing Matthew Vaughn’s fantastic film.
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G-S-T Review…The Hangover Part II
Todd Phillips’ The Hangover Part II is basically more of the same, and by that I mean more lunacy, more hilarity and more Wolfpack! And yes friends, that’s funny in any language. As a huge fan of the unexpectedly hilarious first Hangover, this sequel had such high expectations going in. While comes pretty close to being as great it does fall short due to the fact it is such a rampant rehash of the first film with little new to offer. Then again, did anyone expect anything different from the trailers and the premise? Didn’t think so.
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G-S-T Review…Rio
Blue Sky, Ice Age not withstanding, is known for simply exquisite and stunning CG environments (Robots is a must see) and did wonders with recreating the world of Rio. In their biggest film to date, the realism in textures and further the staggering amount of characters on screen just pop out at you…and that’s just in 2D. Now while, Rango has pretty much won this year’s “most realistic CG award” Rio still deserves as much credit as a powerhouse like Pixar for its level of detail. We’ve seen this kind of tale before but with lush landscapes and bright/funny characters, you don’t really mind the fact this is a rather ho hum and…
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G-S-T Review…Bridesmaids
The female ‘The Hangover‘ this is not. And this film, which is a lot cuter and heartfelt than you’d expect, is probably getting a lot of steam based on that misconception. Make no mistake, anyone wanting a raunchy female comedy will get their money’s worth as this is a laugh riot. But hidden amongst the girl crazy antics is a sweeter film than expected. Moreover, what looks like a crazy series of events befalling all 6 members of the bridal party is really about Wiig, Rudolph and Byrne. Its a mostly endearing film that plays fairly to both male and female audiences and that’s a rare feat in film these…
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G-S-T Review…THOR
The third Marvel character from the Avenger’s line up (and first tent-pole comic film of 2011) comes at us with a pretty solid adventure about the Asgardian Odinson. The most otherworldly member of the upcoming The Avengers film was quite a delight after the rather underplayed trailers and mixed reviews. Sometimes, depending on the material, an awe inspiring character in the comics can look just downright laughable on screen regardless of whether or not there’s a credible story to back it up. But Kenneth Branagh‘s Thor takes what would just be a hokey series of costumes and set pieces and give us a somewhat weighty story powered fine acting. It yields a believable presence on par with something as visually…
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G-S-T Review…Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Well Pirates fans, Tuesday’s screening of the new Pirates film came and went and I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that On Stranger Tides was just awesome! Sure it has its flaws and somethings they could have done without, but it returned to the elements that made the first Pirates film so successful and beloved. The bad news is that becasue of my enjoying and applauding those similar elements in this movie I’ve become a hypocrite for liking what I loathed in last time in At World’s End. But for those of you worried about the future of the Pirates franchise (this is…