cinema reviews
INCEPTION: Dream a little Dreamscape of Me…
July 23rd, 2010
In 1984, a scary movie debuted called A Nightmare on Elm Street, birthing a scarred maniac who would lead a genre with a killer franchise for years to come. A lesser known thriller starring Dennis Quaid would make a relatively forgettable debut, though Dreamscape marked one of the first few films with a PG-13 rating [...]
Read More...A SHINING Overlook with Stanley
July 13th, 2010
My wife and I took a road trip from Seattle to Colorado and up into Wyoming to attend a conference and see Yellowstone National Park. With a rented Mustang convertible and over 9 hours of classic rock inspired by the television show Supernatural courtesy of our friend Dean (not THAT Dean), we found a cinema [...]
Read More...HURT LOCKER is the Bomb…
June 10th, 2010
“Sometimes you get to a point in life where you only love a few things, maybe even just one.” Those haunting words in The Hurt Locker sum up a spellbinding, seat-gripping drama of life that has far-reaching application beyond laborers in an Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit. Embedded Journalist Mark Boal, who spent time with real [...]
Read More...Riddle me this, IRON MAN 2
May 31st, 2010
“You can solve the riddle of your heart.” – Nick Fury We’ve discussed Iron Man 2‘s three major themes, and looked at the legacy of Howard Stark in previous posts, but I didn’t want to miss this little nugget. It’s not simply convenient that Iron Man’s heart is a focal point of this enduring comic book [...]
Read More...IRON MAN 2: The Legacy of Howard Stark
May 19th, 2010
All I can give you is my knowledge. – Howard Stark From the opening, smirking speech Tony delivers at the beginning of Iron Man 2 to old newsreel footage of the impetuous Stark’s very 50s father, “legacy” is a key theme of the film (as mentioned in our inaugural video review). What kind of legacy are [...]
Read More...A SUPERNATURAL Affection
May 13th, 2010
I’ll confess, I’m more than a little excited about the season finale of Supernatural tonight, the culmination of a five-year escalation of biblical proportions for the Winchester boys, Sam and Dean. One miraculous byproduct of the show is that I’m still even watching it; my wife and I canned our viewing regimen in season one [...]
Read More...IRON MAN: well-suited for sequel
May 12th, 2010
BIG plans for Tony Stark: this first review of Iron Man 2 is just a taste of what to come at Cinemagogue. As an avid comic book reader since the 70s, it’s been fascinating to watch a former second-stringer like Tony Stark rocket his way to pop culture Iron icon status. We owe thanks to [...]
Read More...ELM STREET won’t put you to sleep, but doesn’t slice deep
May 9th, 2010
I wasn’t allowed to watch “Freddy” or “Jason” movies growing up, and by the time I watched Krueger on television in the 90s he’d become less nightmarish and more of a self-parody. The 2010 remake promised to bring back the darker tone, and the material certainly provides great possibilities to provoke thoughts and conversations about [...]
Read More...No Man is a (SHUTTER) Island
April 30th, 2010
When my friend and Redemption Group Pastor tweeted that this film was “EPIC,” his high-praise proclamation was even more intriguing to me than Martin Scorsese‘s trailer. Though I’m still not a DiCaprio fan, Shutter Island is a stylish, gripping psychological thriller exposing not only how we suppress the truth in our unrighteousness, but also how [...]
Read More...Going UP?
April 26th, 2010
In Pixar’s UP, an undeniably delicious treat for the senses, Carl Frederickson is chafing against the age-old aging process lamented in Ecclesiastes 12, and sets out to recapture the “spirit of adventure” and honor his late wife Ellie. We find, however, that his motives are mixed, and his mission is missing the mark. This literally [...]
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