Tag: Drama

Movie Review: Knightriders

IMDB,Knightriders“Knightriders” on IMDB

Adventure, 145 Minutes, 1981

I had admittedly totally forgotten about this movie until I was reminded by a hilarious Cracked.com article, “5 Insane Moments from the Manliest Movie Ever Made“.  Once reminded I felt obliged to track it down and relive the majesty.

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Movie Review: Bumblefuck, USA

IMDB, Bumblefuck USA“Bumblefuck, USA” on IMDB

Drama, 91 Minutes, 2011

The basic idea here was very good.  Alexa (Cat Smit [IMDB]) is a pretty Dutch girl whose gay friend has killed himself.  To discover why, she travels to his small hometown in Iowa and interviews people about their experiences being gay in middle-America.

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Movie Review: The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle

IMDB, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle“The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle” on IMDB

Comedy, 98 Minutes, 2009

At the risk of starting out with a spoiler: this is a movie about little, blue butt-fish.  It may, indeed, be about more than that but what will stick with you and what you’ll talk about with people that haven’t seen it is little, blue butt-fish.  This may be considered, in fact, the official anthem movie for little, blue butt-fish.

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Movie Review: Death Sentence

IMDB, Death Sentence“Death Sentence” on IMDB

Thriller, 105 Minutes, 2007

The poster says “from the author of ‘Death Wish'” and you should probably take note of that because for all intents and purposes this a remake of that classic.  Not in the details, mind you, but in the broad strokes this is soooooo “Death Wish” [IMDB].

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Movie Review: Cloud Atlas

IMDB, Cloud Atlas“Cloud Atlas” on IMDB

Drama/Sci-fi, 172 Minutes, 2012

I had been attracted to this by the trailers but lost track of it until I noticed it available on Amazon Instant Video.  I couldn’t honestly remember what about it attracted me.  I knew that Tom Hanks [IMDB] seems to pick scripts well and that I’d never been completely disappointed by the Wachowski’s.  We ended up watching it, my lovely bride and I, without bothering to get any more information on it.

We loved it.  Both of us.  We didn’t understand shit.  Neither of us.

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Movie Review: The Perfect Family

The Perfect Family“The Perfect Family” on IMDB

Comedy/Drama, 84 Minutes, 2011

This was a nice little movie.  Kathleen Turner [IMDB] plays Eileen Cleary, a fanatically devout catholic woman.  She’s active in the church and community and by all impressions as model a catholic as anybody could want.  Of course, if it all ended there this wouldn’t be much of a movie.

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Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

IMDB, Zero Dark Thirty“Zero Dark Thirty” on IMDB

Drama, 157 Minutes, 2012

This was a great movie.  Incredibly well acted, incredibly well paced, incredibly well written.  It deserves all the accolades it received and more – moreso because it could have so easily been a self-aggrandizing, America – fuck yeah!  anthem but instead delved much deeper and much more honestly.

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Movie Review: Kill the Irishman

IMDB, Kill the Irishman“Kill the Irishman” on IMDB

Crime, 106 Minutes, 2011

I’ve been waiting for some time for Ray Stevenson [IMDB] to start getting the A-List lead roles that he clearly deserves.  He’s been featured in some of the best TV on TV (HBO’s glorious “Rome” and Showtime’s “Dexter” to name two of my favorites).  He’s flexible, committed and charming has hell (even when playing an evil sonofabitch).  So, while I missed this when it came out, I was thrilled to see him taking the lead in a major (if lower-budget) motion picture.

The good news is that Stevenson is great.  The bad news is that the movie… isn’t.  While far from “bad” it does rely almost exclusively on gangster movie clichés and has some pretty serious pacing issues.  It often plays as a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive story and we unfortunately never really get to truly understand the characters.

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