Tag Archives | review

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 [...]

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Injustice Gods Among Us (Xbox 360) Review

Summary [9.5 out of 10] After a terrific Mortal Kombat revival, NetherRealm has turned its sights on the DC Universe with Injustice Gods Among Us and it is amazing. Featuring a robust and engaging story mode as well as a full suite of other modes and unlockables that will keep you coming back for more [...]

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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 [...]

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Bioshock Infinite (Xbox 360) Review

Summary [9.5 out of 10] The true sequel to Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite takes a new protagonist to a new location, the airborne city of Columbia several decades before the events in Rapture. The game, which takes place in 1912, features similar baseline  gameplay with added complexity to the gameplay structure and storytelling. Taking the role of Booker [...]

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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 [...]

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God of War Ascension (PS3) Review

Summary [8.0 out of 10] A prequel to the God of War series, Ascension tells the story of Kratos’s attempt to break his blood oath to Ares and his subsequent imprisonment by the Furies. Ascension is a solid entry into the series but does very little to move it forward with a story and gameplay [...]

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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) [...]

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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 [...]

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Aliens Colonial Marines Xbox 360 Review

Summary [5.0 out of 10] A sequel to James Cameron’s Aliens, which is apparently considered cannon, Aliens Colonial Marines is a first person shooter that takes place after the events of Alien 3 but retcons some of the events there. The player assumes the role of Marine Coporal Winter, a member of an investigation team [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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) [...]

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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 [...]

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Halo 4 (XBox 360) Review

Summary [9.0 out of 10] The first entry in the series by 343 Studios, Halo 4 is pretty fantastic. We haven’t always been the biggest Halo fans at this site but pretty much everything that bothered me about the past couple of entries in this series have been addressed, tightened and otherwise fixed and I [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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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The Guilt Trip Movie Review

A safe but satisfying movie, the Guilt Trip delivers more laughs than expected and a ton of heart without feeling too manipulative. The Guilt Trip follows only child and environmental scientist Andrew (Seth Rogen) as he is about to embark on a sales trip to try to find a distributor for his environmentally safe spray cleaner when he learns [...]

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Jack Reacher Movie Review

A smart and engaging if  formulaic mystery-thriller, Jack Reacher defies fan expectations and a terrible title to satisfy to a surprising degree. Based on the 9th Jack Reacher novel One Shot by Lee Child, Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) tells the story of a former military police investigator who is called in by a former Army sniper [...]

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The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Movie Review

(Editor’s Note: This is a longer review than normal as there is a lot to talk about. If you want an over 2000 word discussion of the film then read on. If not, then scroll down to the score and conclusion.) A complicated film on many levels, the Hobbit is a movie that transcends flaws [...]

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Dishonored (Xbox 360) Review

Summary [8.0 out of 10] Following an assassin who is falsely accused of murder as he tries to clear his name through…murder…Dishonored is like if Bioshock and Thief somehow fell in love and had a child. With intense melee and ranged combat as well as heavy stealth elements, both enhanced by special powers to help [...]

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Red Dawn Movie Review

A completely irrelevant re-make, Red Dawn delivers good action wrapped up in a critically stalled story with at least one of the worst performances of the year. The set up to this movie is pretty simple. Jed Eckert (Christopher Hemsworth) returns to his pacific northwestern home town on leave from the Marines to visit his [...]

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

Finally finishing out the series, this is the second portion of the film adaptation of the last book in the Twilight series and is marginally better than the first because, at some point, things happen even if it is a cruel bait and switch. When we last left Bella (Kristin Stewart) she had just turned [...]

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