- Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Posted on 06 Aug 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
The fantastic Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies and King Kong in Peter Jackson’s remake, plays Caesar – and Serkis is a genius. The ape looks exactly the way you’d figure a creature in the midst of a rapid-fire evolutionary jump would look. He moves the way you see chimps move in the zoo, but with an added humanity.
- Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Posted on 15 Jul 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
A palpable glee wafted through the theater as cameras flashed and 3D glasses shaped like Potter’s rested upon hundreds of noses. Gasps, sobs, and cheers reverberated while sniffles and furtive nose-wiping punctuated the quietest scenes. This is true fandom, and it’s wonderful. Some would see this as insanity, some would laugh derisively – and to that I’d ask, “Well, what are you passionate about?”
- Movie Review: Cars 2
Posted on 25 Jun 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
If there’s one thing Pixar always does right, it’s the animation itself. Cars 2 is no WALL-E or Up, but Rome, To(w)kyo, and London are beautifully rendered. In the animators’ capable hands, the cars themselves are as shiny as you’d want, the massive cogs within Big Ben are lovely to behold, and the roiling sea looks so real you might do a double-take. But the breathtaking land- and seascapes aren’t enough to hold the insubstantial story together.
- Movie Review: Super 8
Posted on 11 Jun 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Super 8 is quality filmmaking. This is what a PG-13 summer blockbuster looks like. For those of us who grew up on 80s action flicks it’s a delightful return to form.
- Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Posted on 21 May 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Here we are, leading into blockbuster season 2011, and the best thing one can say about the fourth Pirates flick is, well, Academy darlings need paychecks too. The last movie, At World’s End, was four years ago. That film left us with a sentimental ending that ought to have finished the series.
- The Weekly Listicle: A Johnny Depp-sticle!
Posted on 19 May 2011 in Movies, The Fourth Wall
Yep, this is still happening. Still. When I saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Curse of the Black Pearl, and I was so charmed I dragged my friends to go see it at the second-run theater. They were equally amused and enthralled. It was swashbuckling, silly, romantic, and…well, theatrical. Klaus Badelt’s resonant score [...]
- Movie Review: Scream 4
Posted on 16 Apr 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Scream 4’s tagline “New decade, new rules” may be specious. The rules of surviving a slasher film are the same as they’ve always been – don’t drink or do drugs, don’t have sex, and never say “I’ll be right back,” or you’ll end up the next victim with your guts on the floor. Fortunately though, horror master Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson’s reunion brings back the same wit, glee, and panache of, if not the original movie, at least the second one. (Let’s forget Scream 3 ever happened, shall we?)
- The Weekly Listicle: stoners, slackers, and shenanigans, oh my!
Posted on 14 Apr 2011 in Movies, Television, The Fourth Wall
Our very own Dan Fields reviewed Your Highness last weekend. Dan and most other critics and audiences came to the conclusion that it was particularly worthless. Which is unfortunate. The trailers looked like probable hilarity! What, you say? Natalie Portman in a bikini! James Franco with shaggy hair and in Medieval garb! Danny McBride falling [...]
- Movie Review: Insidious
Posted on 02 Apr 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Remember how the first Saw was actually a creative, mind-bending scarefest? The series’ creators Leigh Whannell and James Wan are back with this weekend’s opener Insidious. The new flick isn’t quite on par with the first chronicle of Jigsaw’s vengeful antics, but it’s a classic, uncomplicated ghost story with no frills—and chills to spare.
- Movie Review: Sucker Punch
Posted on 26 Mar 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Sucker Punch strove to be what the trailers made it out to be: a comic-book-influenced tale of female empowerment—Alice down the rabbit hole with big guns, robots, and mythical creatures. It didn’t succeed. Duly unfortunate is the fact that Snyder, much like M. Night “What a twist!” Shyamalan, has officially figured out his signature: slow motion. Sucker Punch could easily have cut its run time by a quarter if there had been fewer protracted, sluggish shots fetishizing either flesh or brutality.
- The Weekly Listicle: Luck o’ the Irish!
Posted on 17 Mar 2011 in Movies, The Fourth Wall
What? St. Patrick’s Day in America has become a day of drunken celebration–green beer, plastic hats, and parades featuring a enormous, creepy, grinning semblances of the ubiquitous leprechaun. We’ve co-opted a Catholic holiday celebrating a saint and molded it into an excuse to drink and get silly. Which, generally, I have no problem with. Oh, [...]
- Movie Review: Red Riding Hood
Posted on 12 Mar 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Screenwriter David Johnson, whose one prior writing credit was the hilariously mind-boggling Orphan (2009), penned a script that’s as stilted as it is ridiculous. Characters are so superficial as to be entirely unbelievable, and modern dialogue just doesn’t fit the setting. Lines like “I must be God, because you’re the Devil!” are just plain trite—and sometimes baffling.
- Movie Review: Rango
Posted on 05 Mar 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Every scale on Rango’s chartreuse face, every strand of fur on the tiny desert pigs, each downy feather on a turkey’s visage, is lovingly rendered. Perhaps most remarkable is the detail in the creatures’ eyes. Verbinski consulted with Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins, and as a result the animation is brilliant—were it not for the, you know, talking animals, you’d think the desert landscapes were real. And thank the Hollywood heavens Verbinski didn’t see the need to make Rango in 3D—it’s pretty perfect as is.
- Oscars 2011: And the winner is…Julia Rhodes!
Posted on 01 Mar 2011 in Movies, The Fourth Wall
Ms. Kunis brought it–and we spent the whole night wondering if we’d see more of her than she intended. This blogger (Julia Rhodes!), who may still be recovering from a celebratory Sunday evening, won the CLR Oscar Wager for the second year in a row even with mighty stiff competition. One Mr. Dan Fields and [...]
- Oscar Wager 2011
Posted on 25 Feb 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
We at the Fourth Wall have been throwing Oscar Buzz at you throughout the fall and winter, and now the time has come to lay down our chips. Dan Fields and I are prepared to fight to the death (or at least to the point of wicked online jabs at each other’s competence). Gather round, friends and fellow film freaks, to join us in this high-stakes game of Academy politics, personal preferences, and semi-educated guesses.
Follow the California Literary Review on Twitter: @calitreview
