I may not be a fan of romantic comedy, but I make exception for the British take on the boy-meets-girl movie. The blend of dry wit with heart-warming sentimentality has made writer-director Richard Curtis a master of these movies, having been responsible for some of my faves such as Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a…
Category: (4 out of 5)
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Movie Review
I’ve been a fan of the X-Men for a long time (ever since weather-mutant Storm made a cameo on 80s cartoon, Spider-man and His Amazing Friends) and I keep waiting for the perfect X-Men movie that captures all that I love about this comic-book super-team. With all the very positive buzz around X-Men: Days of…
Oscar Schmoscar 2014
This year, I wasn’t sure that I’d have an “Oscar Schmoscar” post as I had hardly seen any of the major nominees. I don’t know why this year seemed to be the year of “individuals going through incredibly difficult ordeals”. From being adrift in space, to being held hostage by pirates, to being abducted and…
The Lego Movie – Movie Review
At first I thought The Lego Movie was going to be like the Lego series of video games where you’re basically watching characters from Star Wars or Harry Potter re-enact their adventures using simulated Lego pieces and minifigs instead of their normal selves and environments. The Lego Movie definitely has a big action-adventure storyline where…
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…
Downton and The Doctor: Christmas Specials 2013
For a TV fan like myself, the Brits have really given us a wonderful (long-running) tradition in the delivering of special Christmas episodes (aired on Christmas day) to both Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. (If you have been waiting for the North American airing of Downton season 4, I will tread lightly on spoilers, but…
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Movie Review
Despite a prologue scene that tries to fill in some backstory (and remind viewers about this big quest that the main characters are on), there’s no fooling anyone about The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug being the middle segment of a movie trilogy. Still trying to live down comparisons to its more-epic older brother, The…
The World’s End – Movie Review
It’s not hard to see how The World’s End is meant to be an unofficial sequel to 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. Featuring the same lead actors (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) and the same writer/director (Edgar Wright), The World’s End also features the pub as a backdrop for a bunch of ordinary British blokes…
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – Book Review
I consider it a miracle in itself that I finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. After all, the book is almost 800 pages long (and since I listened to the audiobook, it was also over 30 hours long)! While it deals with magic and is set in an England where magic…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 