James Bond January continues with my favorite actor to play him, master thespian Timothy Dalton. James Bond’s wild, dangerous and unique missions are one of the elements that makes his character and the series so popular. Sure there’s gadgets, women and exotic locales which seem so abundant they fall out his pockets on screen but in every hero the human side is sometimes what really attracts us the most. James’ commitment to his mission has always (well mostly) been unwavering. This time his focus is on his friend; long time colleague Felix Leiter. With his “license to kill” revoked (a result of his operating outside of MI6) 007 is on his own and…
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James Bond January – ‘Goldfinger’
From the mind of fellow film fan Paul at Paragraph Film Reviews comes this super fun series focusing on every one’s favorite super spy. Yes, known around the world by just three numbers (read: 007) James Bond takes international espionage to new heights. His his cinematic escapades feature a councpia of daring-do as he easily juggles high tech wonder gadgets, brilliant villians, gorgeous women, and with danger at every turn still finds time for a drink and a one liner. Yes the envialbe James Bond knows no bounds. So to kick off my love for 007, I’ll start with my favotire enrty in the seires. No it’s not the one I…
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Film Community Potluck Series…'Top Secret!'
For years I have heard great things about Top Secret! but for whatever reason just hadn’t seen it. Now thanks to the current round of movie recommendations at Anomalous Material (suggested by Dan) I have just knocked one hilarious 80’s gem of my “To See” list. A long time coming yes but this was definitely up my alley and in short is a spoof movie with few equals. To start off I must state that there’s two kinds of Val Kilmer out there. First is the ultra-talented method actor who is able to channel the likes of well anyone (e.g. Jim Morrison). Then there’s an equally charismatic Kilmer who, without trying, can…
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Film Community Potluck Series: ‘Outbreak’
Next up in our Film Community Potluck series we have this little “scare you with science” flick from the 90’s. In a world where terrorism, unemployment and terrible economy abound, sometimes its what you can’t see that really give you chills. So just before Halloween here’s another flick (recommended by MoviesCrunch). Great, like there’s not enough to be scared of these days. Wolfgang Peterson’s big budget, star studded paranoia film does for disease what Spielberg did for sharks. Well, not to that extent but it certainly makes a case for getting a flu shot at the very least.
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Film Community Potluck Series: 'Terribly Happy'
Castor and Red at Anomalous Material have come up with an idea that is so brilliant and yet simple that I wish I had thought of it:) Taking the “book club” model and turning it into a “Netflix Recommendation Series”, all participants suggest a film then a Potluck drawing decides who watches what. A week later we reconvene to share our findings. See, told you it was simple. So for now my reviews of this week’s Potluck (FYI this series will be lumped into to my Off the Shelf Reviews thought these will be shorter). Set in Denmark, Copenhagen cop Robert (Jakob Cedergren) winds up in the remote and derelict town of Skarrild.…
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Off the Shelf…'Cloverfield'
When J.J. Abrams and his son went to Japan he was amazed how many stores still had Godzilla merchandise for sale. Really J.J.? You had to go there to know that;) Well after his trip he intended to make a Godzilla for American audiences. I don’t think he totally succeeded but he definitely didn’t fail either. Cloverfield is really a fantastic film that utilizes “shaky cam” in a way that stands apart from the trite and overdone realtime/mockumentary films of the last 10 years. This style worked so well that it made an already good movie that much better.
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Off the Netflix Queue…'Choke'
Once in a while you find an underrated gem of a film starring one of your favorite actors. As a Sam Rockwell fan, this just isn’t one of them. I toyed with the idea of writing this post since this movie nearly bored me to tears. However you can’t be a film fan and just write about good movie, right? So we are where we are and as a Sam Rockwell fan I still think he’s an incredible actor. Further my opinion of him hasn’t changed even after sitting thorough this less than flattering film.
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Off the Netfilx Queue…’OSS 117: Lost In Rio’
While I adore the first film OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies it really pains me to say that I just did not like this film. OSS 117: Lost in Rio is the follow up to the smash hit Cairo: Nest of Spies and as it is perhaps the best spoof on the 007 series, this apple falls very very far from the tree. In what is nothing more than a series of bad jokes, awkward and long sequences Lost in Rio focused on all the wrong elements and ignoring story was the first in a long line of offenses.
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Off the Shelf…’Master and Commander: Far Side of the World’
In light of the other more commercially successful film about swashbuckling, this Russell Crowe vehicle, I think, stands up to all three Jack Sparrow adventures and still comes out ahead. Further I think this is vastly under appreciated and although not as marketable or appealing to children as Depp’s Sparrow, it is still a solid and(at times) equally exciting film. In short, it is slow but still paced well and is a rousing, seemingly accurate and impressive sea-faring adventure.
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Off the Netflix Queue…’Taking Chance’
Now I just want to start off by saying this is going to be a little different from our traditional Off the Shelf write-ups. This movie was suggested to me by our good friend Castor after my write-up of The Messenger. Though before I start the write up, let me just say that this movie is very eye-opening. It’s a true story and has a way of making you feel more deeply about the war and our brave soldiers fighting for the freedoms we very nearly seem to take for granted. While not a single scene of the war is shown, it sufficiently pulled at my heartstrings. I believe it…