We’re lucky enough in the Philadelphia area to have access to two of the collections of the Oscar nominated short films as presented by ShortsHD. The documentary collection has never made it here, but here’s hoping that they’re eventually offered as well. The animation and live action shorts this year didn’t stack up against previous […]
Side Effects is the latest (and possibly final) film from director Steven Soderbergh. This effort brought me through a potpourri of feelings. I found it curious, compelling, dull, thought-provoking, thrilling, tense, sexual, smart and satisfying—in that order. This is not a film for anyone who has major issues with prescribed drugs as it starts off very […]
Vampires seemed to be all the rage for a while as far as classic horror movie types. Thanks to The Walking Dead and other successful properties like the novel World War Z and the movie Zombieland, zombies have given the vampires a run for the money. Warm Bodies began life as a 2011 novel from […]
Sylvester Stallone entertains the most these days when he’s poking fun at himself or the action film genre as in The Expendables or when he takes on a serious role as in Cop Land. Bullet to the Head leaves a lot to be desired as a mediocre action film that puts Stallone through the motions […]
Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Alan Arkin come together to star in Stand Up Guys. The story about a trio of old-time hoods revolves mainly around Doc (Walken) and Val (Pacino). Val’s been doing time for an accidental killing for the last 28 years and it’s his old friend and literal partner-in-crime Doc who greets […]
Stand Up Guys has a lot going for it with its cast and premise, but in the end, it certainly doesn’t elicit a standing ovation. In fact, the only thing standing up in this film is Al Pacino’s pecker after a few too many male assistance pills. That tired sequence has been done to death […]
Zombie stories have been the same, more or less, from the dawn of their creation. We know zombies are dead humans infected by some apocalyptic virus leaving them in an undead state doomed to shuffle somewhat aimlessly around collapsing cities and towns forever on the lookout for one thing—brains. It’s mindless existence if it could be called […]
A retirement home for the musically gifted is the setting for a nearly-overlooked film that marks the directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman (at a spry 75) in Quartet. The namesake group is played by Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins. The home is populated by some of the biggest names in musical […]
2012 has come and gone. The year, as seen from the vantage point of a theater seat, was a surprisingly remarkable one. I saw, in total, 54 films this year which is second only to the 58 I saw a few years ago. In fact, there were even a couple movies in there that I […]
When it comes to horror films I can be as stingy as ole’ Jack O’ Lantern. For me the best horror films need to go beyond the easy fright. They need to crawl beneath the skin and into the deep emotional psyche. That requires a solid, believable story line to go along with the creepy […]
Another week brings another Best Film Oscar nominee into focus with Zero Dark Thirty, the retelling of the hunt and killing of Osama bin Laden. The film stars Jessica Chastain as “Maya” who, may or may not have existed. My guess would be that she stands in as an amalgam of several key players of […]
Oscar-nominated director David O’Russell gives us a romantic comedy starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Jacki Weaver and more. Each of the four stars have also been nominated in their respective categories and the movie’s been nominated for best picture. This is, without question, a quirky film that happens to have been shot locally […]