I love these kinds of indie films with sci-fi or supernatural premises. In Chronicle, three teenage guys are exposed to some kind of freaky glowing space rock and end up with incredible super powers. Though that story (or one like it) has been done repeatedly (especially in the comic-book world), this movie takes an extremely…
Category: 50 Movies 1 Summer
Movie #16: Drive
Can a movie be both slick and raw? Drive had a high degree of style: artful cinematography (nicely composed, with a great sense of balance; every scene could have been used for a movie poster), beautiful Baroque lighting (the night scenes had a warm-cool glow), thrilling car chases, and a curiously eclectic soundtrack (ranging from…
Movie #15: Anonymous
This movie starts out with an interesting premise (and a prologue by Shakespearean heavyweight, Derek Jacobi). He describes, with poetic and dramatic flair, some of the facts we know about William Shakespeare the playwright and leads to how little we know about Shakespeare the man. According to this story, Shakespeare was a hammy, buffoonish actor…
Movie #14: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Following a recent trend in sequel naming convention, the fourth in the Mission: Impossible action movie series decided to leave off the serial number and go with a subtitle instead. Ironically, the “Ghost protocol” has only a minor role in setting up the dire straits that IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (played again by the “he’s…
Movie #13: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
How capable are you at suspending disbelief? If you plan on enjoying Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (and you’re over 10 years old), you’d better be a disbelief-suspending guru! This movie is clearly a family adventure thrill-ride, but if I started listing all the logical inconsistencies and un-buyable nonsense in it, I might not be…
Movie #12: 50/50
I should probably watch more movies about people with serious illness. Despite my usual resentment of manipulation, I am always moved by these kinds of films. 50/50 is definitely an example of an “illness movie” done right. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a good performance in almost anything (I want to say that playing a ridiculous Cobra…
Movie #11: Dream House
Imagine if The Sixth Sense kept going after the big “I see dead people” reveal and the story kept twisting, getting more complicated and even added a final twist with an over-the-top, action-filled ending. Would that ruin a clever premise and drive it into the ground? Well, that’s kind of what happened to Dream House….
Movie #10: Morning Glory
What could be better than a romantic comedy from the director (Roger Michell) of my favourite rom-com (Notting Hill), with Rachel McAdams (one of my favourite actresses today), featuring Diane Keaton (who, with Woody Allen, pioneered the rom-com in Annie Hall)? Well, the irony is that Morning Glory isn’t a romantic comedy. Sure, McAdams meets…
Movie #9: Limitless
Why do they have to keep doing this? Limitless starts out with an interesting sci-fi premise, then squanders it as merely a gimmick to lure us into a relatively typical story. Some might argue that that’s a rather harsh critique of this movie which actually has some style and carries the premise consistently through to…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 