In the biggest surprise thus far in 2013, Louis Leterrier’s Now You See Me is an incredibly fun, funny and engaging heist movie with great performances from everyone involved. While I thought the trailer looked very compelling, and I liked all the actors involved, I was still extremely surprised over how much I enjoyed [...]
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Iron Man 3 Movie Review
While polarizing to sticklers for continuity, Iron Man 3 delivers much more than expected and is easily the best Iron Man movie as well as one of the best super hero movies. Iron Man 3 finds Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) struggling after the events of the Avengers. He is having major anxiety with panic attacks [...]
Jeffrey’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Summer Movies 2013
The Summer Movie Season is upon us, which means lots of blockbuster popcorn movies, sequels and comedies before we get hit with all the hardcore Oscar-Bait dramas of the fall and early winter. While I am normally more of a fan of the deep contemplative dramas, I love the bombastic action movies and star-driven comedies [...]
Patrick’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Summer Movies 2013
It is that time of year again where we look ahead to the magical summer season of blockbusters, popcorn movies and rare indy gems that break up all the testosterone, lasers, super powers and Axe Body spray. 2013 has had some promising films so far but a lot have come up empty so it is [...]
Pain & Gain Movie Review
Based on a story so unbelievable and outrageous that it pauses late in its run time to remind the audience that it is still true, Pain & Gain is funny, twisted and really long. Pain & Gain tells a bizarro true tale of three idiot body builders, two of whom are former inmates, who launch [...]
Evil Dead (2013) Movie Review
Horrifying and gross Evil Dead is pretty amazing not only for the terrific effects and over the top violence but also for failing altogether to suck. A remake of the 1981 Sam Raimi horror classic of the same name, Evil Dead tells the story of five friends going out to a cabin in the woods [...]
Patrick’s 10 Favorite Joel Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episodes
In honor of Joel Hodgson’s upcoming one man show Riffing Myself at the excellent Loft Cinema here in Tucson on Saturday 4/6 at 7:00pm (tickets available here), I am going to count down my top 10 favorite episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 featuring Joel. For the uninitiated, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) is a brilliantly bizarre show [...]
Olympus Has Fallen Movie Review
An attempt to pull off Die Hard in the White House, Olympus Has Fallen is a baffling failure in almost every way. The story is pretty simple. North Korean terrorists, led by cookie-cutter psychopath Kang (Rick Yune), take over the White House and hold President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) hostage along with Secretary of Defense McMillan (Melissa Leo) [...]
Dead Man Down Movie Review
A straight up no-nonsense revenge-fueled action flick, Dead Man Down is a very entertaining movie with lots of great action and a strong story. Dead Man Down is the first American film made by Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), and he handles the material very well. He brings the action right [...]
Oz the Great and Powerful Movie Review
With a few bumps along the way, Oz the Great and Powerful is a fun prequel to the Wizard of Oz with gorgeous effects and truly impressive and worthwhile 3D. Based more on the books of Frank Baum than the 1939 MGM film (mostly for legal reasons), Oz the Great and Powerful tells the story [...]
Jack the Giant Slayer Movie Review
An occasionally fun and exciting retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack the Giant Slayer is hampered by uneven tone and inconsistent effects. After inadvertently saving Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) who is out in the village in disguse, Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is fleeced out of much needed money for his horse by a desperate monk who [...]
Jeffrey’s Preview of the 85th Annual Academy Awards
I have a confession to make. I love The Oscars. No, I do not always agree with their choices, not at all. I don’t think they are perfect in any way. I do, however, respect The Academy. Unlike any other award show, the Oscars still have at least an illusion of credibility. Unlike the Grammys, [...]
Side Effects Movie Review
With Steven Soderbergh reportedly leaving his director’s chair soon, he puts out one of the very best films of his career with the gripping psychological thriller Side Effects. Recent reports have said that over 10% of the American population is now living life under some type of anti-depressant. Side Effects is one of the [...]
A Good Day to Die Hard Movie Review
A competent action movie, A Good Day to Die Hard isn’t bad but it also isn’t exactly Die Hard either. When he receives word that his son Jack (Jai Courtney) has been arrested and put in a Russian prison for a laundry list of crimes including murder, John McClane (Bruce Willis) heads to Russia to [...]
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Movie Review
Despite monumentally bad marketing, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters turned out to be quite a lot of fun with silly tongue-in-cheek action and laughs that are surprisingly satisfying. All grown up and selling their witch killing skills to the highest bidder, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) are hired to look into a rash [...]
Warm Bodies Movie Review
Zombies are everywhere these days. With AMC’s The Walking Dead as popular as ever and a large budget World War Z starring Brad Pitt just around the corner, one begins to wonder just how much more Hollywood can milk this phenomenon before people tire of it and we move on to the next mythical monster [...]
Bullet to the Head Movie Review
Worthwhile action and occasional flashes of quality cannot save Bullet to the Head from some of the worst writing in recent memory and a litany of crime movie cliches done much better elsewhere with much less. After he is double crossed for a job that leaves his partner dead, career hitman Jimmy Bobo (Syvester Stallone) [...]
Patrick’s Most Anticipated Movies of 2013
So, it may seem like this is coming a bit late given we are already in February but given that this month is the bad movie dumping ground, I submit that there is still plenty of time and the year doesn’t really start until March anyway. Coming off a great year in 2012 it will be [...]
The Spectacular Now Movie Review
I’m not sure there is a genre of film that is more polarizing than a Coming of Age drama set in High School. Half of the people watching will find it instantly relatable, charming and sweet while the other half will find it overly pretentious and annoying. James Ponsoldt’s third feature-length film, The Spectacular Now [...]
Patrick’s 10 Least Favorite Movies of 2012
2012 was a fantastic year for movies with a ton of movies that were good, great and spectacular. There were dozens of worthwhile films released of just about every genre (sorry comedy) and film fans had a lot to enjoy. Unfortunately, however, all was not peaches and cream for cinema goes and this year also [...]
Patrick’s Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2012
It is that time of year again when I list my favorite movies and then have my sexuality questioned for my choices! 2012 was an incredible year for movies and I feel like it is going to go down in history as one of the great years. If you were to look around at last [...]
Zero Dark Thirty Movie Review
While not strictly historically accurate, Zero Dark Thirty is an incredibly well made film with great performances and a through-line of tension that doesn’t let up until the boots are off the ground and the final credits roll. A fictionalized account of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden starting from 9/11 to the ultimate killing [...]
Django Unchained Movie Review
One of the most satisfying revenge movies ever made, Django Unchained is a masterwork that is at turns hilarious, horrifying, exciting, engaging and disturbing. A love letter to Italian spaghetti westerns, Django Unchained follows a pre-civil war bounty hunter posing as a dentist, Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), who is on the trail of a [...]
Silver Linings Playbook Movie Review
A huge surprise after lukewarm trailers, Silver Linings Playbook is one of the best films of the year with amazing performances and an emotionally challenging story. After seeing the trailers for this movie, even knowing that it was written and directed by the terrific David O. Russell, I had totally written it off as a [...]
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