Some of you fellow pop-culturists might be like me, enjoying the preparation for movie sequels or new TV seasons by re-watching past instalments or (better yet) reading the next book in an adapted series. I decided to prepare for Game of Thrones season two by reading the second book in George R.R. Martin’s epic series,…
Category: (4 out of 5)
Mirror, Mirror – Movie Review
Since Disney has long cornered the market on fairy tale adaptations, it’s actually hard to know what to expect from one that isn’t full of singing birds and pixie dust. After watching director Tarsem Singh take on Greek mythology with The Immortals, I was willing to bet that his adaptation of the Snow White story…
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – Movie Review
In Lasse Hallstrom movies (like Chocolat, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, and now Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), special individuals originally thought of by normal society as outsiders eventually draw the so-called “normal” people in and help them bring imagination, passion, and joy to their staid lives. In this movie, it’s a super-wealthy Yemeni Sheikh Muhammed,…
Oscar Schmoscar 2012
Last year’s nominees had a few pleasant surprises that I would have regretted missing out on if not for the noms. This year, nothing really compelled me and it’s unfortunate that I didn’t find the Best Picture nominees to be much of a checklist for exploration. Even the critics don’t love them all, since Hugo…
Nostalgia: Hugo & The Muppets – Movie Reviews
This week I watched two movies that unexpectedly shared a common theme. Hugo by director Martin Scorsese, is the story of a young orphan whose quest to repair a mechanical man leads to an adventure of discovery into the history of early cinema. The Muppets features a young man/muppet named Walter, whose quest is to…
Crazy, Stupid, Love – Movie Review
Why is this movie called Crazy, Stupid, Love? It wasn’t really so crazy for Steve Carrell’s character to want to reinvent himself after his wife (played by Julianne Moore) ended their marriage. It wasn’t stupid for Ryan Gosling’s stylish womanizer to fall in love with the ever-charming Emma Stone. And frankly, it wasn’t love when…
Captain America: The First Avenger – Movie Review
How many superhero movies is too many? After watching three others, I was not exactly eager for Captain America to make his way to the big screen. I was not a big Cap fan, anyway. I like the guys with more spectacular powers than mere strength and longevity. I also wasn’t interested in a character…
Midnight In Paris – Movie Review
Paris being famous as a city of romance, it’s no surprise that Woody Allen would set his latest romantic film there. However, Midnight In Paris holds a number of surprises, including the casting of lead actor, Owen Wilson. The blondest of the Wilson brothers, Owen’s typical role is that of the goofy-yet-good-looking man-child (or cocky…
X-Men: First Class – Movie Review
I didn’t really know what to expect from this prequel to the X-Men movies. I had heard good things, and the director Matthew Vaughn did a great job with Kick-Ass (one of my favourite movies of last year). However, I didn’t want them to rehash old stories (though we hadn’t really seen the origins of…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 