I knew that Repo Men was going to be cut-rate sci-fi, so I didn’t watch it in the theatre. Set in future Toronto (at least it looks like Toronto, since it was filmed less than a block from where I live — Hey, the subway does not fly over Yonge-Dundas Square!) where everyone seems to…
Category: (3 out of 5)
Movie #27: The Class
I’m not sure what to say about The Class. It won the Palme d’Or prize for Best Picture at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, but I really didn’t like it — or more accurately, I didn’t enjoy watching it. Francois Begaudeau stars as M. Morin, a French teacher at an ethnically-diverse school in Paris. The…
Movie #22: Whiteout
I thought the concept for Whiteout seemed pretty cool (no pun intended): have a murder-mystery thriller set on a base station in Antarctica. Kate Beckinsale plays U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko, stationed at the South Pole, who’s just about to retire and go back to the U.S. when the body of a murdered man is discovered…
Movie #20: Ghost Town
With a name like Ghost Town you probably wouldn’t expect the movie to be a romantic comedy. It doesn’t start out like one. Ricky Gervais stars as Dr. Pincus, a year-round grinch who avoids people as much as he can (which may be a challenge since he’s a dentist). After a near-death experience during surgery,…
Movie #14: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
I love modern takes on old classics (especially dark classics) like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Since the audience is presumably acquainted with the original, there’s usually an interesting spin on the story. While it’s set in modern day rather than Victorian times, this modernization has Jekyll (played by Dougray Scott) as a medical doctor….
Predators – Movie Review
The hype around the latest Predator movie says that it’s pretty good. I’m no Predator expert, but it seems like a pretty typical action movie to me. Start out with Adrien Brody waking up in free-fall, hurtling towards the planet’s surface. Good thing he manages to activate his chute. On the ground, he discovers that…
Movie #4: The Men Who Stare At Goats
This did not turn out to be the movie that I thought it would be. I knew that The Men Who Stare At Goats featured George Clooney as part of a secret team of real-life psychic soldiers. However, I also knew that it was not actually the kind of sci-fi storyline that the premise suggested…
Oscar, Schmoscar 2010
I’m pretty excited about this year’s Oscars. That’s not because I finally care who wins (there are probably so many factors besides merit which determine that), but more because I’m enjoying watching a lot of the nominated films. Here are some capsule reviews of movies that I’ve discovered as part of cramming for the Oscars….
Nine – Movie Review
Nine, the new movie-musical from director Rob Marshall obviously faced the same challenge as its Oscar-winning predecessor, Chicago: How do you integrate musical numbers with serious drama? In the case of Chicago, the songs were figments of the character Roxie Hart’s imagination. In Nine, it’s not clear what the songs are there for. In fact,…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 