Paul is ET for the Internet generation – self-aware, subversive, and full of pop culture references. But while the script by stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost has an endearing sweetness to it that balances the anarchy, it doesn’t reach the level of outrageousness suggested by the film’s marketing. Read the rest of my review on Oakville.com:
Category: Review
Film Review – Limitless
What could you do if you had absolute mental clarity, laser-like focus, total recall of everything you’ve ever experienced, a four-digit IQ, and a complete personality makeover? What couldn’t you do? And would you risk your life for it? This is the premise of Limitless, a trippy thriller that hooks into everyone’s secret desire to make more of themselves. And lucky for us, the film is more than what it could have been, too.
Read the rest of my review on Oakville.com: http://www.oakville.com/articles/limitless-movie-review/
Film Review – The Adjustment Bureau
Philosophers have endlessly debated the concept of Fate vs. Free Will. If destiny has a plan in mind for us, then free will is an illusion – all of our choices have been predetermined. Then again, if we do have free will, and everything that happens in the universe is random, then why do some events in our lives seem more meaningful than coincidence, as if they were meant to happen?
This debate underlies the story of The Adjustment Bureau, and while it does little to advance the argument either way, some interesting ideas lift the film beyond the standard romantic thriller fare.
Read the rest of my review on Oakville.com: http://www.oakville.com/articles/the-adjustment-bureau-movie-review/
Film Review – Rango
Most film genres stick pretty closely to certain typical elements, the Western probably most of all. You can really only see so many gunslingers and ghost towns before you begin to think you’ve seen them all. But a good Western succeeds when it focuses on character over the elements, and Rango really has the goods. It’s an animated kids’ movie, but adults will probably get more out of it. Read the rest of my review on Oakville.com.
Film Review – I Am Number Four
Science-fiction is a wonderful thing. It can graft itself to just about any other type of story, and when it’s done well, the merge can elevate both. I Am Number Four is a hybrid of sci-fi and teen romance, but in this case, a lack of creativity lets the whole thing down. Read the rest of my review on Oakville.com.
http://www.oakville.com/articles/i-am-number-four-movie-review/
Film Review – Unknown
My review is published by Oakville.com. Enjoy!
Film Review – Gnomeo and Juliet
My review is published by Oakville.com. Enjoy! http://www.oakville.com/articles/gnomeo-and-juliet-movie-review/
Film Review – Sanctum
My film reviews are now being published by Oakville.com. Enjoy! http://www.oakville.com/articles/sanctum-movie-review/
Film Review – Tron: Legacy
The original Tron remains one of my favourite movies from childhood – in my heart, at least. I re-watched it a few years ago, and saw from an adult perspective that, as unique as the story was, there was something missing behind all the special effects. The exact same thing can be said about Tron: Legacy, the long-anticipated sequel – it attempts something ambitious, but at the expense of the film’s heart and soul.
In a prologue, set in 1989 after the events of the first story, we meet young Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of Kevin (Jeff Bridges), the original visitor to the world of living programs inside the computer. Kevin has been returning there, rebuilding it into a utopia with the assistance of CLU, a program created in his own image. Kevin promises one day to take Sam into the computer with him, but later that night he disappears, never to be found.
A major creative decision has been made here, and it trips the film up by choosing effects over substance. Both the young Kevin and CLU are digitally animated versions of Jeff Bridges as he looked in 1989. That makes for some interesting relationships, and the theme of responsibility for your own creations, but the animation, while impressive, still lacks humanity, and it causes too much distraction. All the other programs are portrayed by real actors, so CLU sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s supposed to be the most advanced program in the system, but he moves like there are some major bugs to be worked out.
Anyway, fast forward to the present. Sam, now a brooding hacker-type, investigates a mysterious message from his father, and soon finds himself a prisoner inside the digital world, where once again, Big Problems are occurring. CLU has taken his prime directive to build “the perfect system” to fascist extremes, purging enemy programs and bending others to his will. Eventually, Sam reunites with his now-aged father (Bridges, in real form this time, and channelling The Dude from The Big Lebowski), and together with an enigmatic female program named Quorra (Olivia Wilde), they team up to free the system and return to the real world.
You don’t have to be a Tron fanboy to see the wasted opportunities in the sequel. The original film worked best when it explored this world of living computer technology. But Legacy almost completely avoids this – instead it gives us flashy visual upgrades of the original’s best sequences. The games arena – with its flying disc fights and light-cycle battles – is back and still very exciting, but there’s nothing new here.
Even Tron himself (Bruce Boxleitner), so vital to the first film, is treated like an afterthought, as if the writers forgot he is a major character and not just a name for the world in which he lives.
I suppose the technical argument is that this computer is a closed system that could only have upgraded its existing technology, and wouldn’t have integrated anything new. But that’s the film’s major flaw – it needed to open up more to bring this story to life. This isn’t really Tron 2.0, it’s more like Tron 1.5.
Film Review – Black Swan
Finding an audience for a film like Black Swan is difficult for two reasons. First, it’s about the ballet, which is enjoyed and understood by a relatively small portion of the population. Second, it’s about the ballet, which men tend to avoid completely.
Director Darren Aronofsky has created a film that conquers both problems – Black Swan makes the ballet accessible, interesting, and for the male (and female) audience, downright sexy.