Rango – Movie Review

Rango is weird. He has surreal dreams, wears a Hawaiian shirt, puts on little dramas in his terrarium with a windup toy fish, and has a chorus of mariachi owls singing a lament of his demise. The animated movie from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is quirky to say the least. Nevertheless, the…

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Midseason TV 2011

I confess I’ve been a bit slow on the draw this year to talk about midseason TV. I guess I’ve been too caught up with my pre-Oscar movie-watching. However, I’ve still found the time to enjoy many of the series which have debuted or returned since the start of 2011. What’s more, many if them…

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Oscar, Schmoscar 2011

When I first started my “Oscar Schmoscar” posts a few years ago, I was tired of the kinds of nominees that Oscar was coming up with. I lumped together some mini-reviews to let readers know what I thought of some of the nominated movies, but it was meant to be kind of dismissive. A few…

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The Green Hornet – movie review

What if Batman had been kind of inept, and Robin had all the skills? I hadn’t known much about The Green Hornet before watching Michel Gondry’s new movie adaptation, but I knew that kung-fu legend, Bruce Lee, played the Hornet’s butt-kicking side-kick Kato in the original TV series. When Seth Rogen was cast in the…

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2010: The Year On Screen

Movies Each year I am less inspired to go out to the movie theatres. The hassle and the hell of other movie-goers is rarely compensated by the big screen experience these days despite (or maybe because of) the move to go all 3D all the time. Seeing TRON: Legacy in the second row in IMAX…

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2010 TV Characters: Love and Hate

Characters I Loved Danny “Danno” Williams, the awesome update of the theme song, and the amazing computer table are the three things that make the new reboot of Hawaii Five-O a cool show. Danno’s over-stated sarcasm, his love for all things New Jersey over Honolulu, and his refusal to trade his tie-and-dress-shoes attire for the…

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TRON: Legacy – Movie Review

Oh the humanity! How can a movie that looks so cool be such frustratingly bad sci-fi? I recently re-watched the first TRON movie. Its blue-screen effects and geometric designs were groundbreaking at the time, but definitely feel dated now (though the light-cycle scenes hold up pretty well). However, it’s the ideas about technology that truly…

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The King’s Speech – Movie Review

I love the kinds of films that take us behind the curtain to glimpse the other side of the story. In the case of The King’s Speech, relatively intimate events are taking place against the backdrop of major ones. Colin Firth gives an outstanding performance as Prince Albert, the man who would be King George…

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