Movie Reviews

Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost walk into a bar…

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Rise of the Guardians
  • IMDB: link

rise-of-the-guardians-posterBased on William Joyce‘s The Guardians of Childhood children’s series, Rise of the Guardians is an old fashioned tale of good and evil centered around an unlikely hero called to join the battle. The Guardians, a group of mythical beings who are sworn to protect children across the globe, are comprised of Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Sandman, and the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman). Despite some infighting, the group works together to keep the magic and wonder of childhood alive across the globe.

When the villainous Pitch Black (Jude Law) returns to introduce nightmares and fear into the dreams of children, while making them begin to doubt the existence of the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, the Guardians rise to stop the Bogeyman before he can destroy the dreams and beliefs on children all across the globe. To do this they will need the help of the irresponsible Jack Frost (Chris Pine), a mischief maker with a shadowy past and a yearning to be recognized and celebrated the way children love the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

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Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost walk into a bar…Read More »

Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost walk into a bar… Read More »

A Royal Affair

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: En kongelig affære
  • IMDB: link

a-royal-affair-posterSet in the last half of the 18th Century, during the Age of the Enlightenment, A Royal Affair examines the reign of the mentally unstable King Christian VII of Denmark (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) from the perspective of his queen (Alicia Vikander) and most trusted advisor, German doctor Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen) whose wide sweeping reforms (the abolishment of censorship, torture, the slave trade, and an increase on taxes of the aristocracy for the good of the people) and affair with the queen, albeit briefly, changed the course of Denmark’s history.

Unable to acquire the rights to Stuensee’s story, director Nikolaj Arcel choose instead to adapt a Danish romantic novel of Bodil Steensen-Leth. Because of the source material, far more emphasis is put on the relationships the Queen has with both her husband and Struensee, and the behind-the-scenes palace politics and court intrigue, than the reforms themselves or their effect on the Danish people. The story also never questions the doctor’s noble purpose or motives for grabbing so much power (including so thoroughly dismantling the King’s government) that, along with his affair with the Queen, ultimately led to his downfall.

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Lincoln

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Lincoln
  • IMDb: link

lincoln-poster

Director Steven Spielberg‘s follow-up to last year’s disappointing War Horse is a far more personal character study of a single man during one of the most tumultuous times in America’s history. Adapted from Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, rather than give us a Hollywood version of “This is Your Life,” Lincoln chooses to focus on the final four months of Abraham Lincoln‘s presidency and the end of both the Civil War and slavery.

Daniel Day-Lewis carries the movie with yet another strong performance as our title character, and Sally Field is surprisingly terrific in the role of Mary Todd Lincoln. Although there is more going on, much like Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, Spielberg’s movie can really be boiled down to two performances that elevate the story around them.

Tony Kushner‘s script focuses on the law, backdoor politics, and Lincoln’s struggle to reunite the Union and abolish slavery rather than the Civil War, which is only used as a backdrop to the events occurring in Washington D.C.

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Bond is Back (and he’s brought the Joker with him)!

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Skyfall
  • IMDb: link

skyfall-posterI wasn’t the biggest fan of Quantum of Solace which I felt stayed far too focused on the fallout of the first movie in the reboot James Bond franchise without moving our new version of British Secret Agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) forward. Skyfall certainly isn’t a perfect Bond film, in fact it may be the first of the franchise that I’ve enjoyed without liking its choice of villain. However, it does make a concerted effort to blend in elements of the classic Bond franchise with the new version making it feel, really for the first time, that James Bond is truly back.

The film borrows heavily from themes, elements, and even specific props from previous Bond movies. Some of these callbacks include the Aston Martin from Goldfinger, a signature gun (which we saw before in Licence to Kill), an assassin’s with signature bullets (a major plot point used in The Man with the Golden Gun), and even the recreation of M’s classic office. The movie also begins incorporating Bond’s original supporting cast including finally delivering a new Q (Ben Whishaw).

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Bond is Back (and he’s brought the Joker with him)! Read More »

The Sessions

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Sessions
  • IMDB: link

the-sessions-posterSex is a mysterious, terrifying, and wondrous thing, especially for someone like Marc O’Brien (John Hawkes) who has lived nearly his entire life unable to move a single muscle below his neck. After contracting Polio at the age of six, Marc has spent most of his life in an iron lung or strapped to a gurney. At the age of 38, inspired while writing an article about the sex lives of people with physical disabilities, he decides it’s about time he lost his virginity.

After getting the consent of his priest, Father Brendan (William H. Macy, in another terrific supporting performance), Marc engages the services of Cheryl (Helen Hunt), a sex surrogate. Marc’s journey is far from an easy one, with both sad and humorous obstacles to be overcome.

Based on the true experiences of Marc O’Brien, adapted and directed by Ben Lewin, this little film about sex turns out to be a funny and sweet character study of a man and his relationships with the three most important women in his life (Hunt, Moon Bloodgood, and Annika Marks).

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