Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Hesher Review

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There are a lot of different reasons to see a movie. Most of the time it’s because you want to be entertained, maybe it’s because you want escape, maybe you want to appreciate the art or maybe you like the director whose making the film. I hadn’t heard much about Hesher, but I did know Joseph Gordon-Levitt was starring as the title character in a role that was completely different from any he had ever taken before. I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and he was the reason I saw this movie.

This was a very unique film to say the least. In terms of the messages it tried to establish, sure there was nothing new here, but what made this film so innovative was in the dark ways it established the themes. It was also a film that never failed to make you laugh on occasion. It was certainly what you’d call a black comedy, but it also had a lot of heartfelt moments and none of it felt forced. I could certainly see how this film might not be able to grip everyone, but Hesher truly captivated me through out.

Hesher follows the story of a young boy, TJ (played very well by Devin Brochu), and his father (Rainn Wilson who is cast out of character and pulls a lot out of the smaller part he was given) who have both just lost someone very dear to them in a car accident. TJ finds a new quasi-friend in the rebellious and anarchic Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who may very well be the tough and unusual push to get this father and son living their lives again.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is just astounding as one of my favorite characters to come out of cinema this year. He swears, he lights stuff on fire, he’s vulgar, he’s intimidating, he’s threatening, he does not give a shit, but when the time calls for it he doesn’t hesitate to get out of his tough exterior and show that he does have a beating heart. The character is defined so well in the writing and Levitt plays him flawlessly. The film is worth seeing if only for his performance. The rest of the cast was pretty great as well and that includes Piper Laurie as the lovable Grandma and Natalie Portman as the store clerk TJ falls for.

Hesher was just an extremely entertaining film through and through. Was it some kind of perfect film? No, but any slight flaws it had I found myself forgiving because I couldn’t stop rooting for these characters and some kind of satisfying ending. Well, you can’t really expect much from someone who is so apathetic, but Hesher delivers.

Grade: A-

The Dark Knight Rises Prologue Review

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In the true brush stroke of brilliance, The Dark Knight Rises Prologue does exactly what a movie opening should do. If done right the beginning of a truly incredible film should introduce a bit of story  while getting you excited of the rest of the film. The Dark Knight Rises dances circles around this idea by simply teasing you a little bit and finally introducing the world to the character and voice of the mysterious Bane.

I won’t give a way every detail because this is certainly something you want to experience, but I will say that most of the scene takes place on an airplane. There has been a lot floating around regarding Bane’s voice and I won’t lie and say that I understood every word, but I absolutely loved his voice. It’s almost somewhat eloquent and it reminds me of Darth Vader, but more menacing and british. It’s so completely different from what you’d expect from such a brute, but now that I’ve heard his voice I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If the score is as good or better in the rest of the movie as it was in the first six minutes than this final film might very well have the best music in a series filled with amazing music. The music cues are awesome and correlate right along with the beautiful action and dialogue on the screen. Christopher Nolan has a habit of upping the ante when it comes to action scenes (i.e. hallway scene in Inception, truck flipping scene in The Dark Knight, etc.) and this opening scene of The Dark Knight Rises is an action sequence that you just come to expect from this masterful director.

Then after the beautiful opening six minutes a short montage of shots follow that get you pumped for the film you’ll be sitting and watching next July. We finally get a shot of Catwoman in full costume, we get to see the bat wing, more shots of Bane and then the resonating last shot of Bane discarding a broken piece of Batman’s mask. I don’t think I’ll ever be as excited for another movie as I am for The Dark Knight Rises and watching this prologue, a long with the recently released second trailer, is exactly what I needed to hold me over before next July when my favorite series of film is concluded.

Grade: A+

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Review

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I wasn’t expecting much when it came to the fourth installment of the Mission Impossible series mostly because I’m not a fan of the series in general. Watching this fourth film was probably the most fun I’ve had watching a Mission Impossible movie, but that certainly didn’t make it a great movie. It’s not even that I’m bias against Tom Cruise whom I think isn’t a very good actor because I have seen Tom Cruise movies I enjoy thoroughly. I was even open to the idea of this film being a good time because it was helmed by “The Incredibles” director Brad Bird. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was not a good film, though I did have fun occasionally.

After being blown away by the “The Dark Knight Rises” prologue I was in such a pumped up mood that I knew nothing could put me down. I was absolutely right and for a while I was having a blast with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol but past a certain point I just realized that for the most part the filmmakers and actors didn’t care about an interesting story or developed characters so why should I.? What the filmmakers cared about was the constant action. As a friend and I walked out of the theater my friend said something a long the lines of, “I can’t believe a movie with that much action could be so boring”. I couldn’t have said it better myself and I couldn’t agree more.

Sure, a lot the action was fun especially the sky scraper scaling scene shown in the trailers and showcased in the movie posters. At the end of the day however, it just couldn’t be ignored how lazy the writing and performances were. What subsequently followed the skyscraper scene was a chase scene that felt fifteen minutes too long and in the middle of that very chase is when I realized that I truly just wanted the movie to end. To be completely honest, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t just walk out because I had already seen what I paid to see.

Even though I was not a very big fan of this film at all, I will admit that while some of the action scenes were beyond stereotypical, there were some that really kept you on the age of their seat. The other best quality of the film was Simon Pegg, I’m always a fan of his work and he certainly had a funny role in this film. There’s not much else that can be said, I like Jeremy Renner, but I was not a fan of his work here and the attempt at a cool twist ending that was hinted at the entire movie was completely atrocious. If you enjoy some mindless action and violence Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol might be the film for you and I can respect another person’s taste, however count me out on this one.

Grade: C-

Carnage Review

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It’s difficult to wrap my head around exactly how I want to approach my review for Carnage. It was a film so unlike most movies and in just that way, among many other reasons, it was a very enjoyable film. It was also a very short film and certainly kept my attention through out. It was fun, well made, well acted, but unfortunately it just didn’t amount to as much as I hoped for.

The best quality of this film were unquestionably the performances. Jodie Foster is always hit or miss very me and she was pretty good here. John C. Reilly played the most likable character and had fun with it. Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actresses and she was fantastic in Carnage. The best performance came from the brilliant Christoph Waltz whose instigating character was played to perfection and though you could probably consider the character the antagonist of the film, the character was in no way an evil villain. It was nice to see a great performance from Waltz in a role that wasn’t some one as a cruel as Hans Landa.

The film centered on two couples and their verbal sparring after one of their sons hits the other couples’ son with a stick. What starts as a civil conversation eventually leads to what feels like warfare. It was based on a Tony-Award winning play and as a result the filmmaking here was nothing special as it just placed the play in movie form. Sure there’s no action or much drama, but the film was a lot of fun and an excellent watch.

My biggest compliant here would be that all of this constant bickering felt like it was leading to a very exciting climax, but unfortunately the movie just ended with out much of a satisfying resolution. Once I looked past the fact that the film didn’t get to the point I wanted it do I just realized that it was a lot of fun, but it just wasn’t amazing. The film’s biggest feat is in the way it could’ve easily felt redundant from time to time, but it never ceased to entertain.

Grade: B+

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Review

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Any time you make a sequel you run the risk of disappointing a lot of people. More often than not if you make a sequel the people who are watching it have seen and enjoyed the first one. You could make   one of those rare sequels that are actually better than the original, you could make one that’s right on par with the original or you could go the same route as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and be very disappointing. I am an avid and of the first Sherlock Holmes movie and Guy Ritchie’s other films and I will say that with out a doubt, this is the worst Guy Ritchie film I’ve seen.

This was a film that I was very excited for. Unlike a lot of people I was actually a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes and what Guy Ritchie had done with the story and I couldn’t wait to see what he’d do with Holmes’ nemesis, Professor Moriarty. I was even excited about character actor Jared Harris playing Moriarty whose performance was the most redeeming quality of this film. Unfortunately, even a good villain wasn’t enough to save the rest of the film from falling a part.

Right from the beginning there was simply something off putting about the film and it went essentially nowhere compelling from there. A lot of it just felt like one extremely dull moment after another just to lead into another one generic action sequence after another. My favorite moments of the film were the scenes between Holmes and Moriarty especially a final climactic scene involving a game of chess. Unfortunately, the rest of the film was nearly captivating enough and the decently satisfying climax was not worth the wait.

Almost everything I enjoyed about the first one I found was overplayed and almost, at times, unbearable in this one. The chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law was there, but there relationship just became more accustomed to joke-telling than with actual character and story development. Worst of all though, I felt as though the female lead was just tossed into the film so that the film could have a female lead. Noomi Rapace did a fine job, but here character was about as unnecessary as this film.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was just not a very enjoyable experience. Admittedly there were parts of the movie that were fun, but when you combine those scenes with the rest of the film you get two-hour movie that just simply was only worth the price of admission because it had the honor of showing a “The Dark Knight Rises” trailer before it. I can’t wait to watch Sherlock Holmes again because I find that a very excellent film, I can’t say the same about its sequel.

Grade: C

Bellflower Review

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What to say about Bellflower? I can’t speak for everyone and say that once you’re done watching this film it will stick with you long afterwards, but it certainly has for me. It’s hard for me to say I’d recommend this film because I can see people hating it, I could see people being appalled by it, I could see people enjoying it and never wanting to see it again, and I could also see people feeling the same way about this film as I do. I loved Bellflower. It was a film that touched on a lot of themes and it did so seamlessly while telling a story that kept you wanting more. It was exhilarating, it was haunting and it was breathtaking.

Bellflower is the story of two best friends who spend most of their days preparing for a post-apocalyptic world. Woodrow and Aidan’s vision of an ideal world is one where the world has basically ended and they rule with their gang, Mother Medusa, complete with their flamethrowers and their “bad ass” muscle car that shoots flames out of its exhaust pipes. It starts out with all fun and games, but Bellflower is the story of what happens when a girl is thrown in the mix and so much more.

Bellflower begins seemingly bland with bad performances and sub-par filmmaking, but past a certain point early on in the film it was as if the performers and the filmmakers (most of them overlap) had come into their own. The performances no longer felt amateurish, but instead were real. The direction and cinematography ceased to be dull and  went the way of brilliance. It was a film that literally morphed from alright to indescribable. The more I think about the film (and trust me I can’t stop), it might have even been intentional because of the constant shift in tone of the film.

If someone were to watch this movie and not like a certain aspect, I probably loved that aspect about Bellflower. There was so much for me take away here. I loved the intentionally grainy and archaic lens that the film was shot through, I loved the palpably awkward moments between some of the characters, I loved the portrait of adolescent ambition and angst, I loved the poignant imagery, but most of all I loved the vivid and enthralling story which constantly gave you the feeling that the events and characters colliding may very well lead to the apocalypse that Woodrow and Aidan so crave.

All this to say, Bellflower was amazing. It was a film that is not only great, but also inspiring in its creation. It was made on a shoe-string budget of around $17,000 and is a much better film than most of the films that come out these days that are made for millions. There’s truthfully something in this movie that is just magical, almost unexplainable. And it’s not just the fact that it was unique in both the story and the filmmaking. There was a true passion that went into the creation of this film and it shows.

Grade: A