As sharp and perfectly executed as they come. 4/4.
Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion is a labor love about a labor love. Making a film, especially an independent film, isn’t easy. With all the various problems that collide with one another on set, it’s a miracle anything ever gets finished. It’s no wonder that everyone in the film industry is borderline, if not certifiably insane.
We enter another week of “Taking Stock,” our weekly column in which the entire staff tells you what they think of the movies coming out this week based on very little knowledge and first impressions.
InceptionJames: I’ve seen this already. It’s the best film of the year so far and already amongst my favorite films ever. What do I have to do to get you to go see it? You’re not going yet? Go. Now. No seriously, now.
Benn: Best movie of the summer by far, and probably amongst the best of the year.
Dylan: My only concern is that I don’t have high enough expectations. Everytime I see the trailer, I get a little chubby in my pantaloons. Seeing it A.S.A.P.
Fil: I’m very obviously excited about this. Hopefully some people (JAMES) don’t hype it too much. Definitely going to see this tonight, go see it and form your own opinions people. Continue reading
We enter another week of “Taking Stock,” our weekly column in which the entire staff tells you what they think of the movies coming out this week based on very little knowledge and first impressions. If it were last impressions, these would be reviews.
Despicable MeJames: The trailers look cute but forgettable and I’m still not 100% sure what this is even about. I’m predicting this to be a decent rental.
Benn: Looks fun, but not my thing really.
Dylan: I’m not really sure why I should care about this movie. There are yellow freaks and Steve Carell and that’s about all I gathered from the trailer. Not the top movie on my list.
Fil: I think this might be kind of a fun movie to see. Not exactly something I expect greatness out of, but it might surprise us. Focusing on the ancillary characters in trailers is usually a bad sign though. <-Formatting error…or subtle hint that my opinion is more important?
Anna: The teasers looked like shit, but I recently saw a full trailer and it looked fun. I’d give it a try.
Light-hearted fun, but not much else. 2.5 out of 4
“Micmacs” is a French word similar to “knick-knacks”, as in “a little of this, a little of that.” In many ways, this describes Jean Pierre Jeunet’s latest film pretty well, as its made up of charming little ideas, yet doesn’t add up to anything all-too substantial.
We enter another week of “Taking Stock,” our weekly column in which the entire staff tells you what they think of the movies coming out this week based on very little knowledge and first impressions.
The Twilight Saga: EclipseJames: What do I say about Twilight that hasn’t been said on this site 100 times already? The trailer looks better than the first two? That doesn’t take much.
Benn: You know what? I’ve said everything that needs to be said about this terrible, terrible thing. Google “Fur and Loathing, Lock Stock” for my summation of “Twilight.”
Dylan: I’ve heard this is the best of the Twilight movies thus far. It’s like ranking S.T.D’s in order of most tolerable. This represents all that is bad in the world.
Fil: I, for one, am so excited about this. GO TEAM BUFFY!
Anna: All I’m going to say is that there was a trailer for this before Iron Man 2. Everybody in the theater made noises of disgust. I joined in.
Don't know what he's looking at...it's not the beach.
Last night, I watched one of the more depressing movies I’ve ever seen. It was about this old guy who tells a story to a female resident of this nursing home. He tells the story of a couple who had fallen in love, and there were some plot twists and things, and at the end…YOU REALIZE THAT THE MAN AND THE WOMAN WERE THE PEOPLE IN THE STORY BUT THEY JUST HAD ALZHEIMER’S. Then they die, and there are swans flying as the credits roll. The tears were just flying out of my eyes, it was terrible.
So anyways, I didn’t actually watch The Notebook, but my writing skills are just so good, that I totally had you going, didn’t I? Hah! The movie I actually watched last night was On the Beach, a 1959 film about the end of the civilized world. It was directed by Stanley Kramer and starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins, and Fred Astaire. Being born in good ol’ 1985, I have no idea who any of those people are, but apparently they’re some big movie stars?
Continue reading
Comedy was one of my favorite genres growing up, and alongside action films, this constituted a great portion of my viewing. I love a good comedy film, but once again I’ll repeat, I love a good comedy film. I feel like only two or three of the comedies per year really pan out for me, but for a long time I loved going back to older comedies, finding it easy to appreciate them despite their “datedness” that I’ve heard complaints of from others. Unfortunately, when it comes to the selection at your local Blockbuster, I feel like I’ve literally run through all the good comedies. In fact, I’ve run through so many comedies that even the films I’ve seen recommended in various places that have shot to the top of my Blockbuster queue are starting to bore me. Such was not the case with the most recent of these selections, Midnight Run, starring Robert DeNiro and the highly underrated straight man Charles Grodin. Continue reading
On this episode we talk about movies that we thought got an unfair bum rap. Benn defends Alien 3, James defends Lady in the Water, and Fil defends Knowing.
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We enter another week of “Taking Stock,” our weekly column in which the entire staff tells you what they think of the movies coming out this week based on very little knowledge and first impressions.
Knight and DayJames: Cruise looks to be kind of back on his game, but Diaz looks way out of place. I guess that’s the point, but I’m still not too interested.
Benn: Diaz is terrible, but Cruise looks like he’s having fun, and that goes a long way. I won’t be lining up for the film, but I’ll say this, “Hey, its better than ‘The Killers’.”
Dylan: I remember when the early trailer came out that made this film look like a comedy/action flick. Cruise was playing a goofy character which works for him now (especially after Tropic Thunder). But now they’ve made it look like an action flick and I’ve lost all interest in seeing it.
Fil: Yeah this looks kind of fun. I mean, it’s not something I’d seek out, but it looks better than The Killers. Then again, watching paint peel was probably better than that film.
Anna: Looks kinda fun.
A bit disjointed now and then, but absolutely fascinating and well done. 3/4
“Writing,” William Lee (Peter Weller) says, “is a dangerous thing.” I imagine he says this because writing is an act of introspection, and if you’re anything like Lee, what lies beneath is a surrealistic, Beat nightmare that is as fascinating as it is insatiably weird.