Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Review: Devil

Five strangers walk into an office building and get stuck on an elevator. It is soon revealed that this is not an ordinary elevator maintenance issue, but that there are much darker forces at work.

"Devil" is the first film in M. Night Shyamylan's series of films entitled "The Night Chronicles". These are films that he has written the story for, but are not directing. And boy did he start his chronicles out with a bang. This is a thriller that sunk its hooks into me from the beginning and totally drug me around for its entire length. If there were ever a way to re-legitimize himself in the eyes of the public, "Devil" is it. Even though he did not direct it, this feels like some of Shyamylan's best talents at work.

Review: Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin sees things in pictures. Her mind can recall every "picture" it has ever taken and allows her to see the world and solve problems in unconventional and brilliant ways. Her condition is known as autism and Temple used this to help her revolutionize the beef industry and give us the modern method of cattle slaughter.

Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Twenty-two years ago, the great Gordon Gekko was imprisoned for insider trading. Now he is out of prison and looking to repair his damaged relationship with his daughter by taking her soon-to-be husband under his wing and helping him seek revenge on the corrupt broker responsible for the loss of his original mentor.

Review: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

"Lord of the Rings" in the world of "The Lion King" shot like "300".

"Legend of the Guardians" is one of the most paradoxical films I have ever had to review. This is not a particularly entertaining film, but it is absolutely riveting to watch. Similarly, there is almost nothing going on in terms of story, yet there is far too much going on for a viewer to care about.

Review: The Town

Deciding to put his life of crime behind him, Doug MacRay sets out to pull one last job and leave Charlestown forever. However, between maintaining his new relationship with Claire and keeping his loose cannon buddy, James in check, leaving may not be as easy as he would like.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Review: Resident Evil: Afterlife

Project Alice is still mad at the Umbrella Corporation for experimenting on her and presumably for making sure that freaking Rihanna song does NOT die. After taking care of some unfinished business in Tokyo, she travels to Alaska to meet up with Claire and from there they travel to L.A. for no reason only to find out that Alice's business wasn't exactly unfinished. Also, there are supposed to be zombies, but there are none.

Review: Harry Brown

Mourning the loss of his wife and the brutal murder of his best friend and chess partner, 77-year old Harry Brown decides to avenge his friend and take down the street gang responsible for his murder. Meanwhile, the British police begin a search for the man responsible for killing the gang member's murders.

The first thing I have to do in this review is admit two things to my readers: 1. I absolutely love Michael Caine. 2. I absolutely love revenge thrillers like this and "Death Wish". Now that that is out of the way, our review can begin. "Harry Brown" is awesome. I know that all these revenge thrillers offer nothing new and play out exactly the same every time, but these films are about execution (pun not intended). And this is exactly where "Harry Brown" succeeds.

Review: The American

In order to be the best at his job, Jack leads a solitary life that consists of traveling the world, using various aliases and not getting to attached to anyone. After years of bending to the will of his superior Jack decides he is done with the business of killing. He takes one last job building a weapon for a fellow assassin in the hills of Italy, but Jack's descent into paranoia has already begun.