Tag: Adventure

Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

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“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” on IMDB

Action/Mystery, 129 Minutes, 2011

Being a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes I was incredibly worried about the first film but happily surprised by the result.  While it added an action-movie physicality to the characters it lost none of the cleverness and brains-over-brawn mentality that makes the character so beloved by skeptics and mystery lovers everywhere (who, if I may speak for the group, hate nothing more than a simplistic “it’s magic” answer to a mystery).  The movies have happily stayed grounded in reality exactly where they belong.

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Movie Review: John Carter

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“John Carter” on IMDB

Sci-fi/Adventure, 132 Minutes, 2012

I’ve always been a big fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter stories ever since I first read them as a teenager.  Pulp fiction (the genre, not the film) has always been a favorite and Burroughs is one of the best.  I also truly adore turn-of-the-(last)-century science-fiction.  Reading about the advances that authors from the pre-transister-age invented has always been a joy.  So when I found out that Disney was going to celebrate the centenary of the character (yes, John Carter is 100 years-old this year) with a big-budget blow-out written and directed by Andrew Stanton (“Wall-E” [IMDB], “Finding Nemo” [IMDB]) I was more than a little interested.

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Movie Review: The Avengers

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“The Avengers” on IMDB

Action Adventure, 143 Minutes, 2012

Was there really any chance this would be a bad film?  All of the prequel films (with the arguable exception of “The Incredible Hulk” [IMDB] which I personally felt was an unneeded remake) were top-notch.  The studio enlisted geek God Joss Whedon to write and direct.  The marketing machine has been running non-stop for months.  Of course the best laid plans always have a chance to explode in one’s face but this was as much of a lock as I’ve ever seen.

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Movie Review: The Secret World of Arrietty

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“The Secret World of Arrietty” on IMDB

Family, 94 Minutes, 2011

This is Studio Ghibli’s eagerly anticipated adaptation of the massively popular children’s book, “The Borrowers”.  While not faithful to the storyline of the book it’s abundantly clear that the filmmakers have a deep and meaningful respect for the source material.

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Movie Review: Real Steel

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“Real Steel” on IMDB

Sci-fi/Action, 127 Minutes, 2011

This movie was completely – and I mean utterly – formulaic.  It was unabashedly and aggressively manipulative – I mean Michael Moore was taking notes during the screening.  The plot was full of holes a giant robot could dance through.  Seriously: if you’ve seen “Rocky” or “The Champ” or “Over the Top” then you’ve seen this movie already.

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Movie Review: Conan the Barbarian

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“Conan the Barbarian” on IMDB

Action, 90 Minutes, 2011

Being a big fan of the Schwarzenegger version I was happily looking forward to this.  Swords, magic, monsters – you really can’t screw it up that much, right?  Well, it turns out that you can try pretty damn hard to screw it up but that no… you really can’t screw it up all that much.

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Movie Review: Black Death

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“Black Death” on IMDB

Drama/Horror, 102 Minutes, 2010

First, a warning: at first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, but this is a straight historical thriller.  There’s no monsters, zombies, vampires or any other supernatural elements.  While the tag-line promises the “ultimate battle against evil” all we really ever get is some borderline atheism and a few scenes of 14th century torture.

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