Tag: Drama

Movie Review: Family Weekend

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IMDB, Family Weekend“Family Weekend” on IMDB

Comedy, 96 Minutes, 2013

I looked forward to this.  I really like the cast and the “kids take over” premise enjoys an eternal life.  Like most it’s often done badly.  Sometimes very badly.  Still, periodically, it’s done so right that you always extend it at least the benefit of the doubt.

In this case Olesya Rulin [IMDB] plays Emily, a teenager so fed up with her parents self-absorption that she, with the help of her three siblings, imprisons them for a weekend of forced family therapy.  Of course highly controlling, power-broker Mom (Kristin Chenoweth [IMDB]) and hippy-dippy, stay-at-home artist dad (Mathew Modine [IMDB]) are resistant to the concept.   As time goes on, and more and more goes wrong, extreme measures are resorted to.

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Movie Review: Lovelace

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IMDB, Lovelace“Lovelace” on IMDB

Drama, 93 Minutes, 2013

This is, like most true stories, difficult to watch without wondering what the real truth is.  In this case that’s made doubly difficult because the movie gives us two versions of the truth to choose from.  The first may be considered the “public” and the second the “private” version of events.

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Movie Review: The Lone Ranger

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IMDB, The Lone Ranger“The Lone Ranger” on IMDB

Action/Drama, 149 Minutes, 2013

As a big fan of both classic serialized heroes and westerns, I was actually looking forward to this quite a bit.  Sure, I may have been the only one, but I thought that it would at least be a nice, meaningless, popcorn lark.  Something well-done, over-the-top and forgettable.

But then they had to go and throw in all that genocide.

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Movie Review: Cherry Tree Lane

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IMDB, Cherry Tree Lane“Cherry Tree Lane” on IMDB

Drama/Thriller, 77 Minutes, 2013

A couple starts dinner.  There’s quiet resentment hanging in the air.  They eat in silence for several minutes.  An attempt at small talk quickly devolves to petty sniping and veiled insults.  The tension is visible and resentment hangs thick in the air.  The doorbell rings.

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Movie Review: Gravity

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IMDB, Gravity“Gravity” on IMDB

Drama, 91 Minutes, 2013

This movie is, plain-and-simple, a God-damn achievement.  IMAX was invented in 1970 and spent all that time waiting for this movie.  You can tear them all down now, all the IMAX theatres.  Nothing will ever be so perfectly matched to the format again.  It was also the first time that I didn’t feel ripped off by the $15 ticket price.

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Movie Review: World’s Greatest Dad

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IMDB, World's Greatest Dad“World’s Greatest Dad” on IMDB

Comedy, 99 Minutes, 2009

Oh damn, this is a good movie.  Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait [IMDB], this perfectly encapsulates his particular outlook.  It celebrates the best in us by examining the crappiest of us.  This is an actual piece of God-damn genius.

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Movie Review: Moon

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IMDB, Moon“Moon” on IMDB

Sci-Fi, 97 Minutes, 2009

Having watched “Oblivion” [Our Review], a movie that breeds comparisons to this one despite having only tenuous similarities, I decided that it was time that my lovely bride see it.

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Movie Review: The Conspirator

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IMDB, The Conspirator“The Conspirator” on IMDB

Historical Drama, 122 Minutes, 2009

Since we covered “Lincoln” [our review] recently this seemed like a reasonable follow-up.  The movie covers the trial of Mary Surratt, the lone woman accused of conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

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Movie Review: Lincoln

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IMDB, Lincoln“Lincoln” on IMDB

Historical Drama, 150 Minutes, 2012:

This is an excellent historical drama.  There are some amazing performances, notably by Daniel Day-Lewis [IMDB] and Tommy Lee Jones [IMDB].  Focusing almost exclusively on the little understood, but intensely interesting, fight to pass the 13th amendment it’s a movie that every American should watch and understand.

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