I didn’t much like The Wolf of Wall Street, finding it a story of unbridled excess with no redemption. It might be based on truth, it might even be completely accurate in its portrayal of Jordan Belfort and his exploits, but I felt like I’d watched something rather pornographic rather than a film exploring the excesses of 90’s Wall Street. A better film exploring the same topic, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was 2013’s underrated The Great…Read More
Review: Cowboys & Aliens
There’s something timeless about a good Western, even if the genre has generally fallen out of favor with modern filmgoers. Sprinkle in some scary aliens, stunning special effects, and a terrific cast and the mashup film Cowboys & Aliensturns out to be a terrific and highly entertaining summer tentpole adventure. Set in sparsely populated New Mexico around 1875, the film starts with bad hombre Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) waking up in the middle of nowhere,…Read More
Review: Conviction
Conviction should have been a good film: after her beloved ne’er-do-well brother is convicted of murder in a tiny hick town, it’s up to his devoted sister to exonerate him, first through the system and then by going to law school and becoming a one-client attorney. Better yet, it’s ‘based on a true story”, though how accurately the film reflects the actual situation is unclear. What is clear is that instead of delivering a touching…Read More
Review: Iron Man 2
Sequels are rarely as good as the original, but Iron Man 2 is one of the few exceptions. It’s not a perfect movie by any means, but it’s sure darn fun and engaging, and the new story twists, the health issue that Tony “Iron Man” Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) faces and the half-baked but disturbing archenemy Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), all add up to create a film that’s sure to be the first summer blockbuster. The…Read More
The Best Films of 2009
I’ve spent the time to rant about the films I saw last year that I thought were the worst of the bunch, not just middling experiences, but genuinely “how on Earth did they ever raise the money to make this abomination?” movies where they either started out okay and slowly collapsed on their own weight (like Knowing) or were daft from the get-go (like Transformers 2). The worst of the bunch, though, must have been…Read More
Review: Moon
Imagine you’ve screwed up your life enough that it’s time for a significant break. A really significant change from your day-to-day reality. For Sam Bell (played brilliantly by Sam Rockwell), that break involves being shipped to the far side of the moon by Lunar Industries, Inc. to work solo on a Helium-3 (HE3) mining facility. For three years. Moon starts out with Sam only having two weeks left on Mining Base Sarang before his three…Read More