The list of rules set in place for rebooting bygone films is relatively anemic; general wisdom dictates that such practices should be verboten, but movie studios rarely allow little niggling details like hindsight and foresight get in the way of a quick buck. So the reboot machine churns, plopping recycling garbage onto a conveyor belt that empties straight into your local multiplex year after year, producing little of interest or note and giving audiences very little reason to leave their homes and attend the theater. Wonder why VOD has become so popular? Wonder no longer. Yet even in the realm of rebooting – not quite the same as “remaking”, be assured,…
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Off the Netflix Queue…’Headhunters’
It ain’t easy being short. Boiled away of its particulars, that’s the central theme of Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters, although “don’t involve yourself in corporate espionage” could well be the larger takeaway. After all, no good whatsoever can come from invoking the wrath of Jaime Lannister, especially a Jaime Lannister armed with nano-technology designed in service to tracking human beings. But Tyldum instills an abundance of textbook male security in his hero, one Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), a man who lives his life under constant self-induced stress and paranoia. What does Roger have to fear? He has a high-paying job as one of Norway’s top employment recruiters, a modern domicile of impeccable…
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G-S-T Year In Review – Jessica's 2012 Wrap Up
Being the Indie lover that I am, I’ve decided to stick to independent titles only for my 2012 Wrap Up. After a fairly disappointing 2011, this year brought us so many amazing films it is difficult to chose only ten to discuss here, and with the limitations of the categories below, I am leaving out so many wonderful films, both studio and independent based, that I probably walked out of thinking it was the best film I’d seen to date. That’s what made picking a favorite film for 2012 so difficult. It seemed that the more I saw, the more favorites I had to add to the list. To name…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Marc’s 2012 Wrap Up
Year in and year out, from festivals to multiplexes the world over, film fans brave the dark of the cinema and are treated to what filmmakers have spent months/years crafting. The result? A mixed bag of titles from independent pictures to studio tent poles and with productions that range from shoe-string labor of loves to all out mega-budgeted features. Annually we theater goers witness a slew of hits and misses (sometimes more misses than hits) that light up the silver screen and 2012 was no different. For every half dozen stinkers we get one gleaming reason that kept us heading to the theaters and that’s what makes these year end lists…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Andrew’s 2012 Wrap Up
I’m willing to admit that last year, I talked 2011 a bit more than necessary. Not that my feelings on the year were dishonest; contrary to many, I thought well of 2011, a year that didn’t contain a plethora of lasting classics but still offered a lot of excellent cinema for our viewing pleasure. But to call it a “great” year may have been a stretch, and I’m willing to admit that now in light of the fact that 2012 has, in fact, been a great year. How can you trust me on this one? Simple: I’ve written my top ten list, re-written it, scrapped that, started over from the…
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G-S-T Year in Review – Grady’s 2012 Wrap Up
This year we survived “The End of the World” and some bad movies as well. But, there were some truly amazing movies that were released this year. Sadly I have not seen every major release this year, but I tried my best. With that being said, here are my picks of the best/worst of 2012. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- Pure adrenaline rush wrapped in a complex and intriguing plot. Also it features two excellent turns from two of Hollywood’s most effective leading men. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- An incredible film, based on an incredible book, which is as immensely heartwarming and funny as it is dysfunctional. The chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence is engaging and very nearly the…
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G-S-T Review…Not Fade Away
I left my recollection of David Chase’s Not Fade Away in the theater shortly after walking out during the credits. Maybe that sounds like bad news, and maybe I’m putting myself in a hole by starting off my review on that note, but truthfully, memorability happens to be Not Fade Away‘s biggest Achilles’ heel. Chase hasn’t made a bad film, not by any stretch of the means, but he’s made one that suffers from diminishing returns, one which our connection to slackens and grows hazier the longer that the picture runs. He’s also made a picture about listless, directionless youth; appropriately, Not Fade Away meanders and lazes as much as its…
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Off the Netflix Queue…’Bernie’
Bernie, Richard Linklater’s black comic docudrama about Bernie Tiede, has two great tricks up its sleeve. The first happens to be Carthage, Texas, the city in which both the events that inspired the film and the events that occur within the film take place. Choice in location may not seem like an impressive sleight of hand, but Linklater so successfully installs his production “behind the pine curtain” that we’re not only transported to Carthage proper, we’re drawn into their culture. The townsfolk we meet– bona fide Carthage residents who knew Tiede and witnessed the circus surrounding his 1998 trial– breathe rural, down-home authenticity into Bernie, but more importantly they talk…
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G-S-T Review…Les Misérables
There’s little use in trying to disguise my frustration with Tom Hooper’s sluggish interpretation of Les Misérables, though in the interest of full disclosure I should acknowledge immediately that I have never seen the musical on which it is based. (And it’s been years since I read Victor Hugo’s original novel.) Put another way, I have no personal ideal of what Les Mis should be, so as far as it concerned me, Hooper– who successfully directed a strong cast of performers to Oscar gold two years ago with The King’s Speech— had the floor here. A shame, then, that he squanders the opportunity by muting his strengths as a filmmaker…
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G-S-T Review…The Hobbit
Nine years, eleven Academy Awards, and two massive cinematic disappointments. Since wowing the world in 2001 with The Fellowship of the Ring, the first entry in his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy series The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson has amassed an impressive tally of goodwill and squandered the lion’s share; as a consequence, his return to Middle Earth, a similar treatment of Rings precursor The Hobbit, has been speculated over with alternating degrees of trepidation, iconoclasm, anticipation, and blatant excitement. Given Jackson’s previous artistic and commercial success playing in this particular fantasy sandbox, as well as his subsequent failures (2005’s King Kong, 2009’s The Lovely Bones), it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where…