Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

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…

The Amazing Spider-Man – Movie Review

The first question around most water coolers about The Amazing Spider-Man seems to be, “Did we need another reboot of the Spider-man story so soon?” and the second (if your water cooler is frequented by movie buffs) is, “Can Marc Webb do a good job directing it when his only claim to fame is indie…

Movie #13: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

How capable are you at suspending disbelief? If you plan on enjoying Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (and you’re over 10 years old), you’d better be a disbelief-suspending guru! This movie is clearly a family adventure thrill-ride, but if I started listing all the logical inconsistencies and un-buyable nonsense in it, I might not be…

Movie #12: 50/50

I should probably watch more movies about people with serious illness. Despite my usual resentment of manipulation, I am always moved by these kinds of films. 50/50 is definitely an example of an “illness movie” done right. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a good performance in almost anything (I want to say that playing a ridiculous Cobra…

Movie #11: Dream House

Imagine if The Sixth Sense kept going after the big “I see dead people” reveal and the story kept twisting, getting more complicated and even added a final twist with an over-the-top, action-filled ending. Would that ruin a clever premise and drive it into the ground? Well, that’s kind of what happened to Dream House….

Movie #10: Morning Glory

What could be better than a romantic comedy from the director (Roger Michell) of my favourite rom-com (Notting Hill), with Rachel McAdams (one of my favourite actresses today), featuring Diane Keaton (who, with Woody Allen, pioneered the rom-com in Annie Hall)? Well, the irony is that Morning Glory isn’t a romantic comedy. Sure, McAdams meets…

Movie #9: Limitless

Why do they have to keep doing this? Limitless starts out with an interesting sci-fi premise, then squanders it as merely a gimmick to lure us into a relatively typical story. Some might argue that that’s a rather harsh critique of this movie which actually has some style and carries the premise consistently through to…

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor – Book Review

It was foolish of me not to have realized (even just from the opening epigram: “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”) what this book was going to be like. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is in the same genre as Twilight (and so many…

Movie #8: Hereafter

I can’t believe Clint Eastwood directed this movie (I was even more surprised that there were supernatural overtones to it). I’ve been avoiding his films for the last while because I always found them too manipulative. It felt like it was obvious how he was going to maneuver the characters’ lives in order to make…