May 2009

The Brothers Bloom

  • Title: The Brothers Bloom
  • IMDB: link

the-brothers-bloom-posterI really wanted to like The Brothers Bloom, and for 90 minutes I did. The film delivers laughs, genuinely interesting characters, a quirkiness not unlike that of Wes Anderson, and a satisfactory conclusion. Then the film continues for another 25 minutes moving far from the lightness and joyfulness of its earlier moments into a much more average action flick packed with questionable character choices, plot issues, and a far less satisfying ending.

Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody star as brothers who begin the life of the con as children. Stephen (Ruffalo) is the brains behind the operation writing roles for his brother, the shy Bloom (Brody). Sadly, it is only through these roles where Bloom gets the confidence to interact with other people, and truly feel alive. Though appreciative of his brother, who wants the best for him, Bloom’s resentment finally gets the better of him.

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Glee

  • Title: Glee – Pilot
  • tv.com: link

With the popularity of High School Musical and American Idol I’m more than a little surprised it’s taken this long for one of the major networks to trot out something like Glee. The show centers around a young high school Spanish teacher (Matthew Morrison) who attempts to relive his own glory days by reinventing the Glee Club into something cool for the current generation.

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Dance Flick

  • Title: Dance Flick
  • IMDB: link

dance-flick-posterWhat are you doing reading a review for this movie? Come to think of it, what was I doing going to a screening of it? You know exactly what this movie is, and you knew before you ever started reading this review whether it’s for you or not.

There are no surprises with Dance Flick. What you see is what you get, most of it bad. The new film from the Wayan Bros. is yet another entry into the sub-genre of cheap parody films which has produced one or two fun flicks, such as the first Scary Movie, but also filled up the DVD bargain bin at your local Best Buy and the late night B-movie channels on cable.

Dance Flick isn’t one of the better entries into the genre, but at least it’s not the worst. I guess that’s something, right? It is however perplexing. Don’t get me wrong, the entire dance film genre deserves to get poked with a stick, but the idea of centering most of the plot around an eight-year-old film isn’t exactly timely.

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Star Trek

  • Title: Star Trek
  • IMDB: link

Let’s get one thing straight, this ain’t your daddy’s Star Trek. J.J. Abrams and his team have successfully relaunched a franchise with 2009’s Star Trek. What we’re given us a fun summer popcorn flick with characters that resemble those from the classic TV-show. However, the film isn’t perfect and makes a few too many changes to Trek continuity for my tastes (not all of which can be argued away by the plot’s time travel plot). Is it a good Star Trek film? Yes, it’s by far the best one the franchise has put out since Star Trek: First Contact. Is it a great Star Trek film? Well…

Let’s begin with the contraption by which the entire film hinges. Years in the future Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is involved with an attempt to save Romulus from disaster. The result sends both Spock and the Romulan ship back in time to create havoc and alter the time stream. This basic premise will be used to explain how the film deviates from basic Trek chronology and how Kirk will rise to become Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

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