Skyfall – Capsule Review

After Quantum of Solace, I was a bit concerned for Daniel Craig’s 007. I was worried that the franchise was too preoccupied with what is supposed to make up a Bond movie to make it a good movie, period. Thank goodness that Skyfall proved the previous film to be an aberration. This movie is not…

A Storm of Swords – Book Review

If you’re reading this review, I presume that you have an interest in the George R.R. Martin “A Song of Ice and Fire” series of novels and preferably you’ve read at least the first two (or at least watched the HBO television series up to season 2). I have become a big fan myself, and…

Oscar Schmoscar 2013

Each year I write this post for two reasons: 1) to show how much I don’t really care about the nominees (not really true) and 2) do quickie reviews of the nominated movies that I haven’t already reviewed separately. Back when there were fewer Best Picture noms, I tried to watch all of them by…

Movie #50: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

First let’s establish that I couldn’t get past a few pages of the Stieg Larsson novel; and I viewed-but-didn’t-enjoy the original Swedish film featuring Noomi Rapace (who I did enjoy watching). Nevertheless, I was excited when I heard that The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was being remade in English by director David Fincher (whose…

Movie #37: Moneyball

First off, I am no sports fan (and sports movies are not high on my list either), but a friend suggested that Moneyball was good enough that I might enjoy it anyway — and he was right. Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, a former pro baseball player who became the general manager of the Oakland…

Movie #30: My Week With Marilyn

Starting out as the young, misunderstood, blonde, Jen Lindley on Dawson’s Creek, it’s interesting how Michelle Williams has come full circle to play the ultimate young misunderstood blonde as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn. I’m not really a Marilyn fan, being that of her movies I’ve only seen Some Like It Hot, but…

Some Nights by fun. – Music Review

Last week I was trawling through iTunes, when I noticed Some Nights by the American band simply called “fun.” making its way to the top of the charts. I liked their previous mega-hit “We Are Young” so I decided to give it a preview, and I loved it! When I also tried the rest of…

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…