Ok, so the idea of “a serial killer winning the lottery” is bound to get plenty of curious (and morbidly curious) in the theater doors. But homicide really is small potatoes compared to marital troubles and incompatibility. Lucky is directed by Gil Cates Jr. and does quite a lot with this little indie script. He sets things up nicely with the simple but passable back story where we find Ben has always been in love with his next door neighbor. But Lucy has never thought of Ben as anything more than a friend. That is until he won the 36 Million dollar Iowa lottery. Soon Ben’s life is changed completely and he’s…
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DIFF Review…13 Assassins
Takashi Miike paints a samurai film for the ages with his gripping epic 13 Assassins. A gritty story about 13 Ronin tasked with killing the corrupt son of the Shogun, Miike sends a love letter to Akira Kurosawa that would make any filmmaker envious of such a compliment. Right off the bat Miike recounts this true story by establishing a villain set for the record books in the form of Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira. His careless and detestable actions are close to breaking the peace that has been held for many years. Called to stop him is Shinzaemon Shimada and he’s to assemble 12 other samurai to take down Naritsugu. It’s 13 against 200 but to a well…
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DIFF Review…The Greater Good
“How many deaths are enough to justify something as being a benefit?” That’s exactly what director/producer Kendall Nelson asks in her new documentary. Bringing three tragically affected families’ stories to light, The Greater Good tells how childhood vaccines (medication that is supposed to be good for these children) are nowhere as safe as they were led to believe. Headlining The Greater Good is 16 year old Gabi Swank. After seeing commercials for the drug Gardasil, she wanted to be protected against the possibility if cervical cancer. But all too soon did this “fast tracked” drug wreck her life and that of her family as well. Gardasil (like other market ready vaccines)…
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G-S-T Review…Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch has a whole lotta everything going on, and I do mean everything. To its credit, the gritty and gorgeous CG mess in front of your eyes should make everyone in the theater smile, even if they don’t really know why or what’s going on. This film has it all and Snyder’s style is there in spades. But it does lack a depth that made his previous film Watchmen so compelling. Granted Zack Snyder didn’t write the Watchmen graphic novel so the level of expectation can’t be that comparable in terms of story. But Sucker Punch tells a tale as odd/mixed as a child taking out his toys and playing with…
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G-S-T Review…Rango
After the success of the previous Pirates installments, Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp bring us another spectacular flick, this time in another equally believed dead genre. Rango is a gruff but gorgeous adventure replete with all the grandeur of the earlier Depp/Verbinski collaborations and delivers the fun we’ve come to expect from the pair. This time though their efforts yeild an epic tale that takes us on a great ride via a different medium. Enticing, creative and off the wall, this very funny tale gives a fresh yet vintage spin on the old and gritty spagetti westerns.
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G-S-T Review…The King’s Speech
I never thought of a film being able to exist as both a “period piece” and a “buddy flick”. The first is a very traditional type of film, the other a more modern kind of story. Well, The King’s Speech is definitely one that equally encompasses both types of stories. It’ is a very sly companionship film that, when the credits roll, you realize isn’t mainly about pre-WWII history or British nobility. Well it is, but mostly it’s about friendship. Friendship that, like most things in life, is rocky when forced. Yet after the bumps in the road are passed it builds to become a life long relationship. Beyond anything that on the…
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G-S-T Review…No Strings Attached
Rom-Coms; you either love ’em or hate ’em. It is brainless entertainment after all, but does it always have to be the case? No Stings Attached isn’t a total nose dive and there is a small amount of humor and an almost heartfelt message if you sift through enough of it. However it’s like trying to get full eating only meager little spoonfuls – it ends up being more exhausting than it is satisfying. But can’t we expect more? Don’t we deserve more? And from Ivan Reitman no less! I went in with an open mind but deep down I could just tell knew this was going to be pretty…
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G-S-T Review…True Grit
Remaking a John Wayne film is a bona fide ballsy move. The man is an American legend and they certainly broke the mold after they made him. I don’t care who you are, the idea of trying to recast any role made famous by John Wayne (not that he was the greatest actor) is an idea that would make most filmmakers shy away; they even named toilet paper after him for crying out loud.* Well if you want someone to fill the shoes of The Duke, you really can’t go wrong with “The Dude” and in the end it proved a gamble that paid off. The more films the Coen Brothers…
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G-S-T Review…Tron Legacy
It still boggles my mind that after nearly 30 years anyone would want to go back to a film that has the dual notoriety of being a flop* as well as a cult classic. Something of a black sheep in the Disney family of films Tron, before now, was relatively unknown to most modern audiences. Yet while the original film was ahead of its time but still lacked much of the technology to really do it right, Disney still thought they had something worth exploring. Enter Joseph Kosinski and a budget of over 300 million (production and marketing) and Disney sought out to make a dazzling film for the ages. Not sure they…
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G-S-T Review…Black Swan
Few film personalities consistently knock it out of the park with each proceeding effort; Darren Aronofsky is one such director/writer. In what is undeniably one of 2010’s best films (I’d go as far as to say the best) Aronofsky once again takes us down a path fraught with heartbreak, disappointment and, to an extent, insanity. However, instead of being as depressing as it may sound, he dazzles us with visuals in a yet another visceral experience. His stories take us to worlds that that few audience members have ever been to but uses common themes that anyone can relate to or understand. It pays to be a bit familiar with his other works to truly…