Filmikaze!

By: Alfred Hitchcock (director)

Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles

A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer’s client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.

This past term, I took a class focused on the works of Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder. We were required to write up our impressions of each film we viewed, and my post on Psycho was a favorite. Now that the term is over, I’m free to share it here!

Psycho remains one of my two favorite Hitchcock films, even after I’ve spent all term catching up on many of the ones I haven’t seen. (For the record, my other favorite is Rear Window, which I highly recommend to everyone.) Even were I to indulge in Hitchcock’s entire catalog and meticulously pick apart every film he’s made, Psycho will always remain a favorite for all of the reasons that it is so iconic. This is a film that legitimately makes me excited about the craft of filmmaking every, single time I view it. Continue Reading

The Damned United (2009) –
Biography, Drama, Sport
Solid performances and engaging story, but a bit morally confused.

The Last Station (2009) –
Biography, Drama
Top shelf acting, surprisingly interesting premise but slow to start.

The Sensation of Sight (2006) –
Drama
Not bad, but has been done better.

By: Christopher Nolan (director, writer)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard

In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, inception.

Once upon a time, Christopher Nolan made a movie called Memento. It was complex and sharp, engaging and memorable. It was like nothing we’d ever seen before, which is no mean feat in the film industry. At some point, though, Nolan started to imbue his films with not so much a signature as auteuristic ego. I wasn’t keen on Batman Begins and continue to think The Dark Knight is one of, if not the single most overrated film of the last ten years. Well, until now.

Crazy as it may seem, I really wanted to like Inception. I remained militantly spoiler-free and tried to keep my anticipation somewhere in the reasonable range between my general dislike for Nolan’s more recent work and the pervasive, glowing praise for the film. I will say at the front that you may very likely enjoy it, simply by virtue of that fact that so very many people have.

Me, though? I think it’s a top-heavy, egocentric, convoluted snoozefest. Continue Reading

By: Garry Marshall (director), Katherine Fugate, Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein (story)

Starring: Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Bryce Robinson, Taylor Swift

Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine’s Day.

Here is what you need to know about Valentine’s Day: It isn’t as vile as you may be expecting (Or at least, as I was expecting), but it isn’t exactly good, either. It is Love Actually sans charm, a wisp of a confection with little depth, and a gaggle of very talented actors portraying characters who are kind of cute and maybe occasionally funny but whom you will, for the most part, not really give a shit about because the film doesn’t take any real risks. Continue Reading

By: Greg Marcks (director, writer)

Starring: Henry Thomas, Blake Heron, Barbara Hershey, Clark Gregg, Hilary Swank, Shawn Hatosy, Stark Sands, Colin Hanks, Ben Foster, Patrick Swayze, Rachael Leigh Cook, Jason Segel, Rick Gomez

The events leading up to an 11:14 PM car crash, from five very different perspectives.

Thus far, I have come across three different posters for 11:14, and every, single one of them paint this film as some sort of drama or thriller. I certainly expected a drama or thriller when I turned it on, but got instead an irreverent, cleverly-executed dark comedy starring a whole host of people I love to watch.

11:14 focuses on several different story lines happening at the same time, and how they’re all connected with each other. The upbeat pacing and solid performances make up for there not being any discernible moral to the story (Aside from, perhaps, that Karma is a bitch and don’t hang your dick out of the open window of a moving car), although I have to admit I wanted for a little more oomph at the end. This one of those films I hate to say too much about for fear of spoiling it, but suffice it to say that it made me laugh a lot and was incredibly enjoyable.

By: Joe Carnahan (director, writer), Brian Bloom , Skip Bloom (writers), Frank Lupo, Stephen J. Cannell (original television series)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Patrick Wilson

A group of Iraq War veterans look to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.

As a kid during the 80s, I fucking loved the A-Team. It’s been long enough that I’ve seen the series that I can’t recall many specifics about it, but I can recall the general tone of it and why, both as a kid and now as an adult, I think it’s super cool. I can confidently say that Joe Carnahan’s film reboot of the series both captures the reckless enthusiasm of the original and manages to uphold the fun action film tradition we would expect from Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Murdock. Continue Reading

By: Shana Feste (director, writer)

Starring: Susan Sarandon, Pierce Brosnan, Carey Mulligan, Aaron Johnson, Johnny Simmons, Michael Shannon

A drama that is centered around a troubled teenage girl and a family that is trying to get over the loss of their son.

Every once in awhile, a melodrama manages to incorporate the typical themes of the genre yet elevate itself above the cliches that go along with those themes. Genuinely moving without falling back on the stereotypes that could easily be expected of it, The Greatest is an excellent example of how melodrama can and should be done. Continue Reading

By: James McTeigue (director), Matthew Sand, J. Michael Straczynski (screenplay)

Starring: Rain, Naomie Harris, Ben Miles, Rick Yune, Sho Kosugi

A young ninja turns his back on the orphanage that raised him, leading to a confrontation with a fellow ninja from the clan.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a fan of both the action and horror genre. I am not squeamish and I am not adverse to gore when it serves a purpose. Even excessive violence and gore can be done in a way that it isn’t simply there for the gross-out factor—See the Kill Bill movies for a classic example. Ninja Assassin, however, is simply blood and guts for the sake of it. So much so that I honestly couldn’t tell you what the hell the plot was really about. It’s difficult to care when people are being cut in half left and right. The fight scenes were well-choreographed, but that is really all it has going for it, and this is all the time I really want to spend talking about it.

By: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa (directors, writers), Steve McVicker (book)

Starring: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro

Based on the real life events of con artist, impostor, and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell (Carrey). While incarcerated, Russell falls in love with his cell mate, Phillip Morris (McGregor).

I’ve been meditating on this film all day today, trying to determine the reasons why it didn’t sit quite right with me. I read some bits and pieces of reviews in an effort to suss out why it left me feeling so adrift and vaguely discomfited, but all I found was praise, mostly for Jim Carrey’s return to more serious fare. Carrey does give a solid performance, I can’t deny that, but still there’s a prevailing sense of ickiness I can’t shake about I Love You Phillip Morris. Continue Reading

By: Steve Pink (director), Josh Heald, Sean Anders, John Morris (screenplay), Josh Heald (story)

Starring: John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase

Four guy friends, all of them bored with their adult lives, travel back to their respective 80s heydays thanks to a time-bending hot tub.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about Hot Tub Time Machine. It is exactly what you’d expect from the poster and synopsis: A mostly-vapid gross out comedy with a lot of slapstick humor. Whether you consider that humor to actually be funny is going to depend entirely upon whether you enjoy the genre. If you are one of the people who believe The Hangover actually deserved to win a Golden Globe, you will probably love it. Me, I found it vastly mediocre and far too trite to make up for the misogyny that runs rampant in these sort of comedies. I honestly expected more from Steve Pink and John Cusack, and would point all of you to Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity as evidence that their partnership can actually produce excellent, clever films.