Film Review
Gravity (Cuarón, 2013)
There is a temptation in filmmaking to create stories that reflect the current state of society. Conventional filmmakers just want to entertain the audience in a way they can understand while artistic types want to hold a mirror up to society and say, “See! This is what you’ve become!” This isn’t […]
The Heat (Feig, 2013)
So much of The Heat, the latest film by Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, should not work. And yet it does, almost exclusively on the strength of Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy as both comedic and dramatic actresses. It takes a very tired buddy cop premise, in which two very different officers are forced […]
Fruitvale Station (Coogler, 2013)
2008. New Year’s Eve. 22-year-old Oscar Grant III and his friends go out to celebrate the new year in the city. 2009. New Year’s Day. Oscar Grant is killed at Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland, California. The incident shocked the nation in the aftermath of New Year’s Day 2009, and that incident is […]
The To Do List (Carey, 2013)
Sometimes a cast of today’s brightest comedic talents can’t carry a film on its own. Such is the case with The To Do List, which unfortunately sacrifices an intriguing, edgy premise for a safe, toothless final product. Writer-director Maggie Carey drew from her own experiences for The To Do List, her feature film debut. […]
The Bling Ring (S. Coppola, 2013)
There seems to be a trend in film this year involving the inherent horribleness of this generation of young teens and twentysomethings. Spring Breakers showed how careless the MTV generation is in regard to their own lives, highlighting how quickly a penchant for danger and excitement can lead to life-altering consequences. Most of the […]
Man of Steel (Snyder, 2013)
Let’s face it, the Superman reboot was bound to happen sooner rather than later. After the success of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy as well as last year’s The Amazing Spider-Man, Superman seemed like the natural path to go in as far as DC Comic superhero adaptations. DC Comic adaptations are traditionally much more […]
This Is the End (Rogen & Goldberg, 2013)
Comedies tend to get second-class treatment in comparison to their more dramatic counterparts, especially among film circles. There are reasons for this, of course. Many comedies have one goal: to make the audience laugh, which tends to sacrifice anything resembling a story for pointless non-sequiturs and unnecessary fart jokes. When I went into […]
Star Trek Into Darkness (Abrams, 2013)
At some point in the first third of the new Star Trek film, Simon Pegg’s character Scotty asks, “I thought we were explorers?” He is confused by Captain Kirk’s sudden interest in becoming the archetypical action hero, saving the day by killing the enemy. Pegg’s interview with online entertainment publication io9 reveals why he asked […]
The Great Gatsby (Luhrmann, 2013)
With some directors, it’s difficult to do a review without devoting paragraphs to how their style contributed to the quality of the film. They are often well-known or well-regarded directors, such as Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino, whose films you can look at and immediately know it’s one of theirs. Baz Luhrmann is […]
Iron Man 3 (Black, 2013)
When the trailer for Iron Man 3 came out (posted above), I and many others were expecting the film to be a darker, grittier version than the previous two. I thought this was a curious step to take, considering the amount of humor and lightheartedness the films have established thus far. The trailer […]
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