Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Movie #37: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

One of the reasons I didn’t rush to see The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is because the trailer made it seem like it was just going to be one long, tense conversation between a NYC subway dispatcher (played by Denzel Washington) and a psychotic hostage-taker (played by John Travolta). To me, a script…

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Movie Review

From the opening credits, where the Universal Studios logo and theme are rendered in 8-bit graphics and sound, I knew that Edgar Wright (director of other geek-friendly satires such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) was going to do a great job with this movie. The premise was totally fun and drool-worthy on…

Movie #36: Valentine’s Day

OK, I have to stop claiming that I don’t watch romantic comedies because obviously that’s untrue. However, I can still say that don’t like them because if there are reasons for my liking Valentine’s Day, they have nothing to do with romance. The intersecting tales of a dozen or so characters who go through romantic…

Movie #35: Repo Men

I knew that Repo Men was going to be cut-rate sci-fi, so I didn’t watch it in the theatre. Set in future Toronto (at least it looks like Toronto, since it was filmed less than a block from where I live — Hey, the subway does not fly over Yonge-Dundas Square!) where everyone seems to…

Movie #34: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

The title says it all: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a well-written movie (based on a series of illustrated books) about enduring the first year of middle school told from the perspective (complete with narrative voiceover) of a smallish, less-than-popular young middle-child boy named Greg. We all know how tough school can be at…

Movie #33: Paranormal Activity

Believing the hype about its scariness, I decided to watch Paranormal Activity in the daytime. I’d always figured that horror movies are barely scary without the creepy music, but I guess this one was designed to be frightening without the soundtrack. The entire film is staged as video camera footage taken by day-trader Micah Sloat…

Movie #32: Ponyo

One of the qualities you can find abundant in films by Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki is imagination, not just in story-telling, but visually as well. While Ponyo is clearly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”, it is still full of fresh wonder and enchantment. Sosuke is a 5-year-old boy living in a…

Movie #31: This Is It

The best parts of the Michael Jackson concert-rehearsal film This Is It were the numbers which were closest to complete, with full blown choreography, spectacle, and music. As most people already know, Jackson’s untimely death prevented him from performing the 50 sold out shows for which this movie showed him preparing. In lieu of actual…

Movie #30: Pirate Radio

Originally titled “The Boat That Rocked” in the UK, Pirate Radio was a very surprising movie. For one, it has a cast populated with many of the biggest names in recent British comedy — you may not recognize them, but you should. The list includes: non-Brits Philip Seymour Hoffman (not always a funny guy, but…