The premise for The Raven — that a madman utilizes the works of Edgar Allan Poe as inspiration to unleash a wave of murder in Baltimore, ultimately pulling Poe himself into the investigation — is clever and intriguing, especially for Poeists. […]
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The Descendants (2011) ✰ ✰ ½
A wealthy Hawaiian lawyer, Matt King (George Clooney), is about to sell his family’s huge tract of untouched land when his wife suffers a marine accident and ends up in a coma. While he struggles to manage his daughters (Shailene […]
Continue reading »The Lookout (2007) ✰ ✰ ½
A high school student driving at night (Joseph Gordon Levitt) gets into a serious accident that kills two of his friends, maims his girlfriend, and leaves him with a serious traumatic brain injury. A few years later, we find that […]
Continue reading »Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) ✰ ✰ ½
Michael Myers arrives years after his first rampage at the house of the nurse (Nancy Stephens) who helped Dr. Loomis transport him, to find out more about his sister’s disappearance. After dispatching some obstacles, including a young Joseph Gordon Levitt, […]
Continue reading »The Cabin in the Woods (2012) ✰ ✰ ✰
In the wake of Halloween and Friday the 13th, there have been a great many horror flicks that use secluded spots in the woods for their kill zones, from The Burning and Mother’s Day to Wrong Turn and Camp Slaughter. The woods are cheap […]
Continue reading »The Raid: Redemption (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
While I have never been a big fan of martial arts movies — especially after having watched a slew of them in the early 1980s — I have to admit that Gareth Evans’ Indonesian apartment slaughterhouse The Raid: Redemption is quite […]
Continue reading »Lockout (2012) ✰ ✰
Its credits claim that Lockout is “based on an original idea by Luc Besson,” but there is nothing original about Besson’s “idea.” Lockout is, depending on your viewpoint, either an homage to or a ripoff of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981), […]
Continue reading »The Lorax (2012) ✰ ✰ ✰
Some children’s movies have more substance than others, and some have more propaganda. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is a movie that certainly entertains children, and adults, yet it also undeniably functions as environmental propaganda. So did the book. This is not […]
Continue reading »Mirror, Mirror (2012) ✰ ✰ ½
The first of two live-action “Snow White” adventures to be released this year is an imaginative, slightly wicked little comedy that retells the tale with an adroit sense of humor. Because megastar Julia Roberts is cast as the evil Queen, […]
Continue reading »Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012) ✰ ✰ ✰
I’ve always liked Lasse Hallström as a filmmaker, ever since I saw My Life as a Dog way back in 1985. He is one director I wish would work more frequently than he does. Hallström’s penchants for character detail, gradual […]
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