It is hardly surprising that people compare Norwegian director Mikkel Brænne Sandemose’s movie Ragnarok to something by Steven Spielberg (most obviously Jurassic Park). Once again we have a scientist (this time an archaelogist rather than a paleontologist) looking to prove his wildly dismissed theories about the past (in this case it’s about the site where…
Category: (3.5 out of 5)
Movie #9: Divergent
Riding on the dystopian, young-adult coattails of The Hunger Games, Divergent was another series to make it to the ranks of blockbuster movie adaptation. Even before reading the book, I was skeptical of the premise. In a future-Chicago, society has split everyone into factions based on individual ideals (e.g. the selfless belong to the Abnegation…
Movie #8: Kick-Ass 2
From all the negative reactions to this movie in theatres, I was expecting a very disappointing movie (especially after I loved the first one so much), but I guess that lowered my expectations enough that I actually kind of enjoyed it. While the first movie was something of a landmark, this one is a bit…
Movie #6: 300: Rise of an Empire
Another 300 movie was originally very exciting to me. 300: Rise of an Empire was not really going to be a sequel, but set around the same time and events of the first film. In fact, the movie is narrated by Queen Gorgo (played again by Lena Headey, borrowing from her own portrayal of Queen…
Movie #4: Her
Though not entirely new (remember 80s film Electric Dreams? I didn’t think so), the concept of romance between a man and his computer is somewhat intriguing (and so clearly inspired by all those people turned-on by the voice of iPhone’s “Siri”). Writer-director Spike Jonze’s version puts Joaquin Phoenix at the heart of this boy-meets-OS tale,…
Movie #3: Ender’s Game
I’m the first to admit that I did not love Orson Scott Card’s seminal sci-fi novel on which this movie was based. It was well-written, but I didn’t enjoy the brutal bullying and could never buy into how “mature” these pre-teen characters were supposed to be. The story of Ender Wiggin begins with Earth having…
Super-fiction: Brilliance, Amped, Ex-Heroes, and Steelheart – Book Reviews
In case you have not noticed, superhumans are all the rage. Whether it’s being bitten by a spider, receiving a shiny green ring, being struck by some special lightning or meteor, or just by being born this way, people on screen are getting supernatural powers in droves. Movies like Amazing Spider-man and X-Men are obvious…
Cramming: 2013’s leftover Movie reviews
Over the course of the year, I wrote a few movie reviews on this blog (though not as many as I had hoped). However, I also watched a few other movies that I didn’t get around to reviewing. So, as 2013 closes, I still want to give my two cents on each of them (though…
Riddick – Movie Review
After nine years of waiting, is it a disappointment that Riddick is more of a reboot than a sequel to the trilogy of movies that began with the well-crafted Pitch Black in 2000 and sort of fell off the cliff in 2004 with Chronicles of Riddick? As before, Vin Diesel plays the ex-con, murderer, and…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 