Carey Mulligan

The Spoils of Babylon – The War Within

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Spoils of Babylon – The War Within
  • IMDB: link

The Spoils of Babylon - The War Within

Slightly funnier than the first episode of IFC’s new mini-series, but still suffering from the same problems, “The War Within” is concerned mainly with Lt. Devon Morehouse’s (Tobey Maguire) adventures during WWII including being shot down and taken prisoner by the Japanese. After surviving a fiery plane crash without a scratch and later making his ridiculous escape from the POW camp, Devon eventually returns to his adopted home with his new wife Lady Anne York (a mannequin voiced by Carey Mulligan).

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The Top 13 Movies of 2013

/ / Top Tens & Lists

The Top 13 Movies of 2013

Personal journeys, isolation, the style of the 60’s and 70’s, self-destructive acts and debauchery, troubled romance, rivalries, and overcoming hardships – these were the major themes of the films that composed my list of the Top Movies of 2013. It turned out to be a strong year in movies as several films I thoroughly enjoyed failed to make this list. Rather than doing honorable mentions, I decided to stretch the list from 10 to 13 allowing me to include three more films I wanted to discuss but weren’t otherwise going to earn a mention on a list of the Top 10 Movies of 2013. Here then are the The Top 13 Movies of 2013.

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Inside Llewyn Davis

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Inside Llewyn Davis
  • IMDB: link

Inside Llewyn DavisOver the years the Coen Brothers have used setting, music, and tone to tell a variety of tales. Lacking the broad comedic strokes of Burn After Reading or the darker undertones of No Country for Old Men and their True Grit remake, the brothers’ latest is a more straightforward and personal character study of life of a struggling artist. Thinking over their filmography you can say the Coens have produced funnier, stranger, more disturbing, and perhaps even more memorable films, but this immersive drama ranks as one of their best.

Set primarily in the Greenwich Village folk music scene of 1961, Inside Llewyn Davis follows the life of Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), a known and liked (or at least tolerated) folk singer in his small circle and a real son of a bitch to nearly ever single person he knows. Over the film’s 105-minute running-time we witness Davis nomadically travel with his guitar, a carton of unsold records, and a friend’s cat as his only prized possessions.

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The Dull Gatsby

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Great Gatsby
  • IMDB: link

The Great GatsbyIt took five years after the disaster which was Australia for writer/director Baz Luhrmann to be allowed to make a feature film again. Sadly, it was this film. I kid, but the sad truth is Australia was an amazingly bad trainwreck that deserved every bit of scorn it earned from critics and audiences alike. Even sadder is the fact that Australia might actually be a better film than the writer/director’s current adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel which takes literary classic and grinds it down into dime store romance novel full of the director’s trademark spectacle, garish production design, and style (complete with inappropriate time-period music), resulting in dreadful boring film.

The Great Gatsby isn’t horrifically bad. It’s not the kind of truly wretched film that would rise my ire and pitchfork for a march on the director’s metaphorical castle. Almost as troubling, Luhrmann’s version of The Great Gatsby is an emotionally stunted and empty experience that often tells us, but never shows us, why we should care for these characters or the tragic events in which they find themselves trapped.

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Doctor Who – Blink

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – Blink
  • tv.com: link

“Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good Luck.”

Doctor Who - Blink

With this being the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who you can expect to see reviews of old episodes of the series pop up on the site from time to time. Ask anyone to list their favorite Doctor Who episodes from the new series (2005-present) and you can be sure “Blink” will show up at or near the top every single time. Not only did the episode win multiple awards, but in a poll by Doctor Who Magazine it was chosen as the second best episode of Doctor Who ever made.

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