I guess it’s fair to say that I never really paid attention to (or rather heard of ) Edward Zwick before seeing Blood Diamond. The reason for that is simple: I hadn’t seen any of his films. Well after seeing Blood Diamond (and immediately buying it on DVD) I made it a point to see what else this extraordinary director/writer/producer had to his credit…and I was not disappointed. The Last Samurai, Glory, Legends of the Fall…wow, how could I have overlooked these films? While I could go on about those great films, I’d like to get started by stating simply that Blood Diamond is one of my favorites. It is an incredibly poignant,…
-
-
G-S-T Review…Get Him to the Greek
In this loose “follow-up” to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek focuses on wild and eccentric Brit rocker Aldous Snow. Weird thing is, although the movie hints at being a continuation of the prior movie (including a cute TV commercial of “Sarah Marshall’s” newest prime-time show) Jonah Hill doesn’t play the infatuated Aldous/Infant Sorrow fan he did in FSM. Weird I know. However, that minor inconsistency didn’t keep me from enjoying the hell out of this movie. While FSM really surprised me, this was equally as entertaining. As this is, in part, a Judd Apatow film, the story came replete with tons of heart. Further, as expected, the raunchy humor was set…
-
G-S-T Quick 5 – Great Films That Leave You Feeling Bad
It’s funny how some films out there can be really, really great but leave you feeling really, really bad afterwards. Further there are some rather depressing films you probably wish you could “un-see”. Listed below are 5 films which are really in the upper echelon in terms of story, character development, pace, mood, etc. While these films won’t do much for your mood afterwards, we believe these to be truly fantastic pieces of art. These films are created with expert hands and are feats in and of themselves. However the intent of the story is to get under your skin and (to properly tell the story) to leave you heartbroken, in tears, nauseous…or…
-
Off the Shelf…'Smokin' Aces'
With The A-Team hitting theaters next Frriday, I figured I would take a look at Joe Carnahan‘s previous actioner Smokin’ Aces. In the wake of Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, it seemed like writer/director Joe Carnahan wanted to try his hand at a film involving a huge cast with interweaving plots and laced with criminal stylings. This may have proven to be too ambitious as it just didn’t come to fruition as I had hoped. Along the way Smokin’ Aces did have a fair amount of good things going for it but overall, this was a let down.
-
Off the Netflix Queue…'The Brothers Bloom'
In the follow-up to his astounding film Brick, Rian Johnson goes a little less serious for his sophomore feature-length effort but makes a film just as rich and compelling. Johnson attempts to explore the almost ludicrous and funnier side of life that few of us will ever be able to comprehend…the life of a con-artist. The Brothers Bloom is a quirky con-artist flick that is just as witty as Brick but is funny, funny, funny. In most instances where the trailer is more exciting that the movie itself, this is the rare occasion where the polar opposite is true. The trailer below doesn’t do this film the justice it deserves…which is…
-
Off the Netflix Queue – ‘The Messenger’
From the compelling trailer, I knew The Messenger was a film I really wanted to see. Unfortunately, like trailers are prone to doing, the movie was not as well put together as I was led to believe. Overall, the film was a weak story but was an impressive character study. Despite having slow missteps and some wooden characters, the high points of the film are narrowed down to two standout elements: Harrelson and Foster. Yet even the amazing performances aren’t enough to give me more than lukewarm feeling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MEApxjYncI
-
Off the Shelf – 'OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies'
It seems these days, a legitimate spoof movie is in very short supply. In the vast abyss of terrible films, I believe that modern audiences seem to have lost all hope. But that was before this little title came along. I’ll just come right out and say it, this is the best spoof movie I have ever seen. Recalling the brilliance that made Airplane! successful and injecting the period look/nostalgic feel that peppered the Austin Powers series, this remarkable film has just revamped, revived and rewritten the playbook on spoof films. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwA6ir86slQ
-
Off the Shelf…’Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’
Due to a very pleasing viewing of the recent Robin Hood film, I thought I’d re-evaluate the previous Mr. Hood, the one whom I’ve held on a pedestal for so long. Comparatively, they are different sotries and given that the newest Ridley Scott film is a production that throws out most convention, looking back it seems more apparent that Costner’s did so as well (just to a lesser degree). Was it a bad thing? No. It, just like Scott’s film, just fit well in the time it was made and like history has shown us, change, sometimes, an inevitable part of storytelling. As far as Kevin Costner’s film, does it stand up? Nostalgia aside, I…
-
G-S-T Review…Robin Hood
In Hollywood circles, there’s been some constant actor director tag teams in the past, Johnny Depp,/Tim Burton, Nic Cage/Jerry Bruckheimer, DeNiro(and DiCaprio)/Scorsese to name a few. But if there’s one team that continues to impress, it’s the one, two punch of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. Well those two were at it again, this time to tell the story of Robin Hood. Despite years of saturation from the famous man in green tights, this was a different tale all together that is not the tale you think you’ve seen. But where shall I start? Maybe I’ll take a cue from the movie and start…at the beginning. Now as per a recent trend in Hollywood, prequels…
-
G-S-T Quick 5 – Best Action Melee Scenes
Let’s face it, when we walk into an action movie, we don’t want realism. We want our hero to be “10 feet tall and bulletproof“. We want him/her to know tons of bone crunching self-defense, walk through a battle unscathed and maybe, just maybe, if we’ve suspended all our disbelief, our hero will be able to walk on water. Now as action films go, pushing the envelope is a requirement, nay, obligation and most times, despite the lunacy of what happening on-screen, we always think bigger and better is the way to go…except in Transformers 2. Yet for as long as films have had that genre defining high action content,…