Quick Review: Clash of the Titans

Posted in movies by - Apr 20, 2010
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For some reason, everyone in this stupid movie has a British accent except the lead, who does nothing here to disguise his Aussie twang. Now, it’s a ridiculous cliche that American films use a faux-posh English accent as shorthand for all ancient people. It’s a dumb conceit – if the cast has to do accents, why not pick accents from the part of the world the movie is set in? Alternatively, you could do away with accents and let the actors speak naturally. But the sheer laziness of letting the lead actor use a different accent than everyone else …

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Hopefully the Creepiest Thing You'll See Today

Posted in life after cable by - Apr 17, 2010
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This video is from an ancient Canadian game show for kids called “Just Like Mom.” The host (called “Fergie” in the Great White North) apparently had a powerful need to get all Richard Dawson with his tweener contestants. So powerful is this need that he employs tactics ranging from guilt to sudden violent attack. Apparently his wife was his co-host, and did not brain him with a skillet on the air.

How this stayed on the air long enough for a second episode is beyond me. Frankly, how the host wasn’t run out of Canada on a rail is beyond …

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Quick Review: Kick-Ass

Posted in movies by - Apr 16, 2010
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Kick-Ass is pretty great. Not perfect, but fast, funny, gory and enjoyable.

I haven’t read the comics it’s based on, so I can’t vouch for the film’s fidelity to its source material. I can, however tell you that it’s a good comic book movie. It has all of the over-the-top, operatic action sequences that make comic books fun, but also has enough humanity to keep from being silly.

The basic story is simple. Comic-book geek decides to try his hand at masked crime-fighting. He is not particularly skilled or effective in his new vocation, but his alter-ego becomes famous anyway. …

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Quick Review:Repo Men

Posted in movies by - Apr 16, 2010
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Repo Men is, for the most part, a boring and overwrought trifle. It steals most of its ideas from “Repo: the Genetic Opera” and steals its visual concept of the near-future dystopia from Blade Runner. It’s been widely regarded as a sardonic commentary on our current state of American Healthcare, but I can’t believe that for a second. Repo Men is far too dumb to be a comment on anything.

In a world….

A megaglobocorp makes fancy artificial organs for people, but charges unbelievable prices for them. Desperate people sign unwise financing contracts to get them. When they miss …

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Quick Review: Hot Tub Time Machine

Posted in movies by - Mar 26, 2010
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I am a child of the 80s, for good or ill. This means I secretly love a lot of things that have long since become uncool. Coming of age in the 80s explains my love of girls in Flashdance sweatshirts and stirrup pants, clear colas, and silly sex comedies.

The heyday of the slightly raunchy but ultimately good-natured sex romp coincides exactly with my teenhood, and I remain quite vulnerable to their charms. The makers of “Hot Tub Time Machine” know this. Not just about me, but everyone who started going on movie dates in the Reagan era. They set …

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Quick Review: Un Prophete

Posted in movies by - Mar 16, 2010
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It’s basically a French prison Goodfellas, and I say that with love.

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Quick Review: She's Out of My League

Posted in movies by - Mar 16, 2010
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Reviews don’t matter for movies like this. It’s a competently crafted, frequently amusing throwback sex comedy about a beautiful woman falling for a scrawny, goofy looking guy. If I was cynical, I would call it “She’s All That” for dudes and by that standard it’s a modest success.

If you look too closely,however, you’ll notice how derivative every facet of the film is. There’s a Kenneth from “The Office” character, and a counterfeit Seth Rogen. There is a “Something about Mary” turn in the middle of the movie, and there’s plenty of formulaic romcom twists and turns that …

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Nec placerat diam

Posted in Uncategorized by - Mar 01, 2010
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec quis libero ligula, vel faucibus tortor. Praesent feugiat tortor sed odio imperdiet eu euismod orci placerat. Donec feugiat bibendum dolor, vel pharetra lectus semper ac. Suspendisse hendrerit pretium ante non luctus. Nulla ac nulla vitae arcu aliquet suscipit accumsan a velit. Praesent sit amet mi diam, eu blandit augue. Praesent et felis massa, et vestibulum quam. Donec non massa est. Suspendisse sed dolor in dui blandit dictum. Suspendisse potenti. In ac sem ipsum. Donec nec lorem consequat dui gravida adipiscing vitae ac lacus. Donec augue metus, hendrerit sed bibendum ac, gravida …

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Ac bibendum eros tincidunt

Posted in Uncategorized by - Mar 01, 2010
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Nam ultrices blandit sapien, ac bibendum eros tincidunt luctus. Donec feugiat euismod sem, nec vulputate ligula sodales non. Donec est est, eleifend consequat dapibus vitae, scelerisque ut leo. Nullam facilisis justo sed purus consequat lobortis. Integer rutrum, sem sit amet auctor congue. Nam ultrices blandit sapien, ac bibendum eros tincidunt luctus. Donec feugiat euismod sem, nec vulputate ligula sodales non. Donec est est, eleifend consequat dapibus vitae, scelerisque ut leo.

Nullam facilisis justo sed purus consequat lobortis. Integer rutrum, sem sit amet auctor congue. Nam ultrices blandit sapien, ac bibendum eros tincidunt luctus. Donec feugiat euismod sem, nec vulputate ligula …

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Quick Review: Edge of Darkness

Posted in movies by - Feb 24, 2010
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Most of the press around this movie has to do with whether audiences will still warm to Mel Gibson as a leading man. It’s titillating to talk about Mel’s ugly remarks, his public intoxication and boorishness and his fringy religious beliefs. So titillating that it’s almost completely obscured any discussion about whether you should see this film.

The short answer is “not really.” Despite the fact that Mel remains a confident, natural presence on screen this is not much of a movie. You’ve seen the various parts in other movies, some of them even starring Mel himself. You will guess the …

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