Fantasy, 98 Minutes, 2011
James Furlong has a serious problem. The men in his line are afflicted with strange magical powers that tend to hinder more than help. His grandfather would go blind for 37 minutes if he thought about sex. His father disables machines near him when scared. James has it worse, however: whenever he’s hurt everything (and everyone) near him dies.
Comedy, 95 Minutes, 2010
In a good way this reminded me a lot of “The Big Lebowski” [IMDB]. Not in story but in sensibility and pacing. It’s not as good – Lebowski is an acknowledged classic from master filmmakers after all – but fans of it should like this. A subdued kind of depressiveness permeates the entire thing but is offset by moments of deep optimism and emotion.
Drama, 99 Minutes, 2010:
Just to clear the field, to begin with this movie revolves around kids dying of leukemia. Much of it takes place in the hospital room of two kids dying of leukemia. The rest of it deals with the parents of those two kids who are dying of leukemia. Basically if you’re already sick of hearing about kids dying of leukemia then you probably won’t like this movie much.
Thriller, 95 Minutes, 2009
While the description and the title may lead you to instantly think “slasher flick” (I did) there’s actually a deeper story here. It doesn’t always work (and sometimes it really doesn’t work) but it’s an honest attempt to break the mold and for that alone it deserves some love.
Drama/Comedy, 93 Minutes, 2008
[The third and last movie in our unexpected Tyler Labine [IMDB] film festival. After watching two in a row by accident, we decided to hit up our good friend NetFlix for others and this floated up.]
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” on IMDB
Comedy/Drama, 124 Minutes, 2011
Movies about old people tend to be really good. They just are. “On Golden Pond” [IMDB], “Coccon” [IMDB], “Grumpy Old Men” [IMDB], “Driving Miss Daisy” [IMDB], “*Batteries Not Included” [IMDB], “Second Hand Lions” [IMDB], “Red” [IMDB] – and the list goes on. They’re all great.
“Jeff, Who Live at Home” on IMDB
Comedy, 83 Minutes, 2011
This is a surprisingly brilliant little movie. While there is a rather hippy-dippy message at the core the wrappings are so charming even somebody as jaded as myself can forgive it.
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” on IMDB
Drama, 129 Minutes, 2011
Let me begin by saying that both my wife and my mother loved this film. They laughed and they cried. They said things like “I just love that Sandra Bullock in everything” and “Tom Hanks is so talented”. Me? I thought it was very, very long. Really – I swear – it was like seven hours long. That’s not to say it was at all bad – just long. And a little dull.
Family, 126 Minutes, 2011
It’s sometimes hard to review universally acclaimed films. There’s a temptation to run counter to the pack and find flaw (anything everybody likes can’t really be good can it?) Sometimes you just have to admit it though: the pack has its moments. This is something special.
Drama/Comedy, 97 Minutes, 2010
Whenever a traditionally comedic actor (especially a traditionally gonzo, off-the-wall comedic character actor) moves into more serious things I always think that there must at least one poor schmuck that just saw the name on the marquee/box and grabbed it because they really, really needed a laugh. Maybe he had just found out something horrible and needed to take his mind off it; maybe all of life’s normal, tiny horrible things just piled up on him and he just needed one break.
