cinema reviews
A father’s legacy in TRON
January 26th, 2011
Sam Flynn misses his daddy. Sure, the 27-year old boy plays it cool in the opening of TRON: Legacy, chills out in a swanky bachelor pad I confessedly covet (but he drinks Coors, so we KNOW something’s amiss) and pretends he’s cool rockin’ the whole “aloof” thing, but the truth is he feels confused and [...]
Read More...A “god’s” legacy in TRON
January 8th, 2011
“Your father was the creator.” – Quorra, from Tron: Legacy Jeff Bridges doesn’t play a divine trinity in Tron Legacy, but he does present a curious trifecta of world creator, absent father, and slightly Lebowski-channeling aging 80s hipster. While the last one provided vocal audience response with claps and laughter, the first two are what [...]
Read More...TRON’s Legacy isn’t deep, but appropriately playful
January 5th, 2011
What were YOU expecting from TRON: Legacy? A cursory viewing of this sequel’s 1982 film predecessor, sporting half-baked yet fun ideas stretched across a kaleidoscope of imagery and loosely scrambled religious plot-points (with cameo by Pac-Man), offers a cult classic that’s cute but not innately thoughtful. I adore the first film, no doubt with a [...]
Read More...The Worldview of an ELF (via Will Ferrell)
December 17th, 2010
A special son raised in a Christmas paradise is sent south to a much harsher world where he sees the darkness in the world and overcomes it with a light in his eyes that refuses to be extinguished… the story of Buddy the Elf is an atypical type of Christmas cheer that feels like modern-day [...]
Read More...TRON proves ’82 debut was not the “end of line”…
December 13th, 2010
In 1982, TRON was passed over for an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects because the Academy felt the movie “cheated” by using a computer (seven years later, The Abyss would win for it’s computer generated effects), showing how out of touch the Academy has ALWAYS been… Meanwhile, in the real world… 28 years later, [...]
Read More...DONNIE DARKO: in God’s channel (pt 2)
October 31st, 2010
“It was as if the plan had been with him all his life…” – Karen Pomeroy, from Donnie Darko (2001) Spoilers Ahead: for the first part of the Donnie Darko review, click here. By the end of this spectacularly crafted film, the young Donnie Darko understands what his death will avert, and it is clear that [...]
Read More...Flashback to DONNIE DARKO
October 29th, 2010
“28 days… 6 hours… 42 minutes… 12 seconds. That is when the world will end.” – Donnie Darko (2001) Writer/Director Richard Kelly uses various techniques to capture not only the spirit of the late 80s, but also the spirit of late 80s filmmaking in the eerie Donnie Darko. Co-produced by Drew Barrymore (who also plays [...]
Read More...INCEPTION, Reformed (for the last time)
October 21st, 2010
What do filmmaker Christopher Nolan and Puritan Preacher Jonathan Edwards have in common? I know we’ve been hammering on Inception for what seems like a lifetime (or we might be dreaming within a dream, and it’s only been minutes!) and I’ll have to go on and review some of the year’s other offerings eventually… you [...]
Read More...“True Inspiration” versus INCEPTION – does it exist?
October 8th, 2010
“True inspiration is impossible to fake.” In Christopher Nolan’s incredible Inception, the notion is posited that planting an idea may not be possible because the mind will recognize it’s “inception” as foreign. One might easily take away that inception is something external whereas “true” inspiration is internal. Some might miss the obvious question: what is [...]
Read More...Why I am afraid of HOUSE…
September 30th, 2010
My wife and I knew Hugh Laurie as a gullible Prince Regent from Black Adder and the foppish man-boy from Jeeves and Wooster long before he embraced his inner curmudgeon and ditched his accent to play doctor as Gregory House, M.D. for six seasons of FOX’s hit show. I’ll probably break down and pull up [...]
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