In A Dark Place Review
Leelee Sobieski’s adaptation of The Turn of the Screw builds strong atmosphere and delivers committed performances before stumbling into an ending that undermines everything it set up. Continue reading In A Dark Place Review
Tag: movie reviews
Walk All Over Me Review (2007)
Walk All Over Me is a different side of Leelee Sobieski than most of her fans have seen. A scrappy Canadian crime comedy with a loose plot, genuine laughs, and great chemistry between its two leads. Better than its reputation suggests. Continue reading Walk All Over Me Review (2007)
Lars and the Real Girl Review (2007)
Lars and the Real Girl is not what you think it is. It is sincere, warm, and quietly beautiful, carried by a Ryan Gosling performance that never winks at the audience once. One of the most underrated films of the 2000s. Continue reading Lars and the Real Girl Review (2007)
Joy Ride Review (2001)
Joy Ride is a very good thriller carried by an unseen villain with one of the most intimidating voices in modern horror. The cast delivers, the tension is real, and a few logic lapses are the only thing keeping it from being something great. Continue reading Joy Ride Review (2001)
Mr. Holland’s Opus Review (1995)
Richard Dreyfuss delivers the best performance of his career in a film that spans thirty years of one man’s life and earns every emotion it asks you to feel. The ending alone is worth the price of admission. Continue reading Mr. Holland’s Opus Review (1995)
Draft Day Review (2014)
Draft Day is a genuinely interesting behind the scenes look at how the NFL operates on the biggest day of the calendar. Great cast, compelling premise, but the writers didn’t trust their own story enough to leave well enough alone. Continue reading Draft Day Review (2014)
The Glass House Review (2001)
The Glass House got a raw deal when it came out in 2001. Revisiting it now, it holds up better than its reputation suggests, carried almost entirely by a Leelee Sobieski performance that deserves far more recognition than it ever received. Continue reading The Glass House Review (2001)
Sabotage (2014) Review
Sabotage wants to be Training Day and a classic Arnold shoot em’ up at the same time. It fails at both. One of the most boring Schwarzenegger films ever made, and that is really saying something. Continue reading Sabotage (2014) Review
Joan of Arc Review (1999)
The 1999 CBS miniseries had no business being this good. Leelee Sobieski was just sixteen years old and already delivering one of the finest portrayals of Joan of Arc ever committed to screen. This one holds up. Continue reading Joan of Arc Review (1999)
My First Mister Review (2001)
Christine Lahti’s My First Mister is one of the most overlooked films of 2001. Sobieski and Brooks share an unlikely chemistry that carries this quiet gem almost all the way home — almost being the operative word. Continue reading My First Mister Review (2001)
Hunting Season Review – Mel Gibson Still Has It
Mel Gibson proves he still has it in this lean, competent survival actioner. As reclusive woodsman Bowdrie protecting his daughter and a wounded woman from ruthless criminals in Oklahoma’s wilderness, Gibson delivers a commanding, grounded performance that elevates a predictable but tense plot. Read our Hunting Season review. Continue reading Hunting Season Review – Mel Gibson Still Has It
Jersey Boys Review (2014)
Jersey Boys (2014) Here is a musical for old farts. And I’ll go ahead and admit right now, even though I’m only 28, I’ve kind of always been an old fart at heart. When it comes to music that old farts like, it doesn’t get much older or fartier than Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Along with my appreciation for timeless music, I’m also … Continue reading Jersey Boys Review (2014)
Taken 3 (2015) Review
The first Taken movie pretty much created a genre of its own. It was a smart fast-paced thriller, and a great watch. The sequel was stylistically appealing, but from a story standpoint was just a confusing mess that I absolutely hated. This movie has almost no style, and director Olivier Megaton (real name) must have broken some kind of record for yelling cut in this … Continue reading Taken 3 (2015) Review
Blazing Saddles (1974) Review
John Wayne was reported to have been offered a part in Blazing Saddles. After reading the script he called back and said “I can’t be in this, it’s too dirty… but I’ll be first in line to go see it when it comes out.” Imagining Wayne in the Wilder role makes me glad he turned it down. The other casting question that often comes … Continue reading Blazing Saddles (1974) Review
Killing Season (2013) Review
The premise here is interesting, the talent is extraordinary, the action and atmosphere is fine, but the end result is one of the most befuddling messes I can long remember. The premise is this; 20 years after the Bosnian war, a retired US soldier now living out in the Appalachian countryside finds a strange hitch-hiker with a secret past. Turns out said hitch-hiker was … Continue reading Killing Season (2013) Review
Almost Famous Review
Almost Famous is a movie I not only love, but was important to me in my formative years, and my life in general. It tells the story of William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a 15 year old kid on assignment for Rolling Stone magazine. He has to cover an up and coming rock band during what critic Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) calls the dying days … Continue reading Almost Famous Review
Ms. 45 (1981) Review
It is probably not something I should admit to anyone aside a therapist, but I grew up absolutely loving the hell out of late 70s/early 80s hard boiled revenge movies such as Death Wish and the like. Now as an adult, I occasionally stumble across a title I somehow missed during those years. Ms. 45 was just such a picture. Ms. 45 This movie tells … Continue reading Ms. 45 (1981) Review
Noelle Review
Originally slated for a theatrical release, Disney made the decision to go with Noelle as the first live-action, original movie for their Disney+ streaming service. With the service launching on November 12th, it was definitely a good decision by Disney because November and December are months when folks like to watch Christmas movies. Also a good decision because Anna Kendrick brings some name value to the service’s first original film, and also because Noelle is better suited for at home streaming than it is a movie theater. Continue reading Noelle Review
La Bamba (1987) Review
In the grand scheme of music history Richie Valens, or Valenzuela (Lou Diamond Phillips) was a minor figure in music history, and his biggest claim to fame is that he died in the same plane crash that took the life of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, but his story is such a great little slice of the American dream that it makes for … Continue reading La Bamba (1987) Review
Wild Card (2015) Review
Nick Wild is a Las Vegas bodyguard with a gambling addiction, and an action movie hero addiction as well. Dreaming of escaping this seedy world so he can sail a yacht around Corsica, he earns money through cutesy side jobs like helping losers get laid by letting them beat him up in front of their girlfriends, while serving as the “Mike” Jason Alexander’s “Better Call … Continue reading Wild Card (2015) Review