David Raitt – Off-Topic – Page 4 – Personal Writing and Other Stuff

Film Review – Despicable Me 2

2010′s Despicable Me was a humourous, heart-warming, and original sleeper hit about James Bond-type supervillains battling each other, more for reputation than world domination, and one such villain who gives it all up to savour the joys of fatherhood. Despicable Me 2 is only occasionally funny, and shares none of the other qualities of the first. Kids may enjoy it, but otherwise it feels like the sort of soulless, quickie sequel that animation houses often churn out on DVD.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Film Review – The Lone Ranger

Though they fall in an out of fashion with the public, Hollywood still loves a good Western. And as the studios continue to mine yesterday’s pop culture heroes for new action franchises, The Lone Ranger must have seemed like a safe bet, especially with Johnny Depp starring as the masked Ranger’s companion, Tonto. But, as Tonto himself says here, anachronistically: “Not so much.”

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Film Review – Monsters University

Pixar’s 2001 Monsters Inc. remains my favourite film to come out of the celebrated animation studio, not only for its brilliant premise, but for the fact that it seemed to be a wonderfully realized one-off story, immune to disappointing sequels. It’s pleasantly surprising, therefore, that Monsters University is a fun film – still not on par with the original, or even other Pixar greats, but better than average.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.

Steve Furtick

Film Review – Man of Steel

Back in 1978, Superman became the first major comic book hero to receive the big screen blockbuster treatment, long before such movies became Hollywood’s bread and butter. After a failed attempt to revive the original Superman franchise in 2006, the Last Son of Krypton has returned again for a proper reboot, courtesy of producer/co-writer Christopher Nolan (of the recent Batman trilogy) and director Zack Snyder (who has brought us other well-received comic book adaptations like 300 and Watchmen). With Man of Steel, they give us a very good retelling of Superman’s origin, though it falls short of full marks due to some unnecessary excesses.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Film Review – The Internship

Some movies get a bad rap merely by being misclassified. The Internship is billed as a raucous comedy, and the previous films of its stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson probably reinforce that expectation. On that score, it’s already received some negative press and poor showing at the box office. But it’s really more of a feel-good story with some laughs thrown in, and on that score it’s a perfectly enjoyable little movie.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Film Review – Now You See Me

In a not-uncommon display of studio one-upmanship, two movies about high-profile stage magicians have premiered this Spring. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone was a flawed comedy. Now You See Me is a detective thriller, and by far a better movie, though it’s best you don’t try looking too far up its sleeve.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Film Review – The Hangover Part III

Comedy is hard. You can never tell what’s going to make people laugh, and even when they do, you can never be entirely sure if they’re laughing at the things you think they’re laughing at. I think this is the lesson the cast and crew of the Hangover trilogy will take away from it. While The Hangover Part III tries once again to recapture the original’s lightning in a bottle, once again it comes up short.

Film Review – Star Trek Into Darkness

Here comes J.J. Abrams again. The man seems to be everywhere these days, with his fingerprints on any number of high-profile TV series and films. And after great success in 2009 with his reimagining of Star Trek, expectations have been high for the sequel. He definitely delivers with Star Trek Into Darkness, though there are a few caveats for die-hard Trekkies.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.

Film Review – The Great Gatsby

With some exceptions, most good parties require planning. The host knows how he wants things to go, and selects the elements to create that experience. The very best parties have a uniqueness that’s a reflection of the skill of the host’s planning. And with director Baz Luhrmann as our host, The Great Gatsby is an excellent party indeed.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link.