Wolverine’s last ride
March 23, 2017
Three years after his second solo film, Wolverine has returned to the big screen with his claws out and his taciturn demeanor fully intact. Following the enormous success of last year’s “Deadpool,” 20th Century Fox has released its second attempt at an R-rated X-Men film: “Logan,” the 10th...
Bad accents and other misses
March 9, 2017
Does anyone remember Val Kilmer at his prime, in movies like “Top Gun” or “Tombstone”? And then you watch him in his more recent works and he just looks tired and bloated? That’s what watching Nicolas Cage (“National Treasure”) in the American-Canadian-Chinese action film “Outcast”...
Batman in a Lego world
March 9, 2017
On the surface, the idea of making a movie using Lego versions of other intellectual property is pretty ridiculous. As it turns out, the reality of such a movie is still ridiculous, but in more of an amusing and heartwarming way. As with the first Lego movie, “The Lego Batman Movie” proves that a...
Nazi bratwursts and other stupidity
February 16, 2017
I have seen the true face of the Devil, and it looks an awful lot like the poster for the movie “Yoga Hosers.” Coming from the mind of Kevin Smith, the director of “Clerks,” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” this movie stars Smith’s daughter as one of the leading roles. This movie...
“Maximum Ride” tramples childhoods
February 2, 2017
In the world of book-to-movie adaptations, there are only two possible ways that these movies can be made. They can either be mostly true to the source material, with only a few alterations or missing things, or they can absolutely butcher the source material. Unfortunately, the film “Maximum Ride,”...
A new kind of Disney princess
February 2, 2017
Disney princess movies have followed a fairly standard formula for nearly 80 years, usually based on a fairy tale and including a prince in some capacity. November’s “Moana” broke that pattern with style, delivering stunning visuals and a riveting plot. Directed by Ron Clements and John...
Sanctimonious Sanctum Sacking in Marvel’s “Doctor Strange”
December 8, 2016
There might be something Strange in the neighborhood, but no one is calling the Ghostbusters this time. The newest Marvel superhero film brings us the origin story of Doctor Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon who loses the use of his hands to a terrible car accident (don’t drive distracted, kids!)...
Valhalla Rising: A new addition to reject fridge art
December 8, 2016
When you sit down to watch a movie, you do so thinking that what you are about to watch has some semblance of plot or good character development. Not so with “Valhalla Rising,” a film from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. This English-language Dutch film is an affront to the idea of a proper...
“Raising Hope” raises your spirits
December 8, 2016
It’s not every day that you find a show that will make you laugh uncontrollably. I have been searching for such a show since I gained access to a Netflix account, and I believe I have finally found it. “Raising Hope” chronicles the life and adventures of Jimmy Chance, a broke 20-something...
A hoppin’ new tale from Disney
April 14, 2016
It’s a dog eat dog world, but in Disney’s newest animated feature, that dog would be arrested by a rabbit for the crime. Directed by Rich Moore (“Wreck-It Ralph”) and Byron Howard (“Tangled,” “Bolt”), “Zootopia” is an hour and 48 minute film that explores themes of friendship,...
Could be a sad day: Craig’s last waltz with 007?
December 17, 2015
I speak to Daniel Craig lovers: it is a sad day. That’s not a spoiler, just a goodbye to the broody, moody Bond whose adventures have brought us through “Casino Royal,” “Quantum of Solace,” “Skyfall,” ending with the charmingly dark “Spectre.” I’ll be out front: it’s not as good...
“Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” offers more Panem and more Katniss
December 17, 2015
So there I am, smack-dab in the middle of a theater full of fan-girls, high school groups, middle-aged loners, and families of Katniss worshippers. I wait for the fate of Panem to unravel, for Katniss to choose the right road in her love-path, for a revolution that will overthrow President Snow. “Mockingjay...
“Baraka” is hypnotically watchable
December 17, 2015
“Baraka” (1992) is an hour-and-a-half long visual experience that will leave you breathless or drooling from boredom, depending on whether or not you can stomach a film with no plot or characters. The film has no traditional narrative, no dialogue. What it does have is utterly gorgeous footage...
“50 shades” not all it pretends to be
Amanda Carman
May 7, 2015
After reading the “Fifty Shades of Grey” series, I could not wait for the first movie to come out on Feb. 13, 2015 with a running time of 125 minutes (rated R for sexual content and language). Following its release, the film broke a box office record with $546.5 million. However, after watching...
Jon Favreau’s “Chef” a spectacular movable feast
Steve Gold
April 23, 2015
Recently released on Netflix, the indie film “Chef” is delicious! “Chef” is a highly pleasurable movie about the relationship between father and son, husband and ex-wife, creative integrity, independence and being true to one’s passion. For those desperate for enjoyable family movies, without...
“Insurgent”: Hit and Miss
Gabriella Fecher
April 23, 2015
After last year’s “Divergent” flopped its way onto the big screens, fans of Veronica Roth’s Young Adult (YA) dystopian book series weren’t quite sure what to expect when the franchise announced the release of the sequel, “Insurgent.” With the introduction of action-centric director Robert...
“Cinderella” sparks controversy
John Berthiaume
March 26, 2015
As a lifelong Disney fan, I waited anxiously for several months to see the premiere of Disney’s new live action remake of “Cinderella.” With a little magic, bits of humor and respect for cheesy romances; director, actor, and producer Kenneth Branagh (“Thor”) enchants us with his modern adaption...
Eastwood’s “American Sniper” hits the mark
Jeffrey Barr, Staff Writer/ Photo Editor
February 10, 2015
“American Sniper,” the latest film from Director Clint Eastwood, has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screen Play and Best Actor. There’s a reason for these nominations: this is a great film. With a budget of a mere $60 million this film delivers...
“Captain America” vs. Wes Anderson
April 25, 2014
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” is “The Shining” as a humanistic comic fantasy. Both films are built on hotels. Both films center on their respective hotel’s distinctive caretakers. In director Stanley Kubrick’s “Shining,” Jack Nicholson played a homicidal version of himself, chasing his wife...
Notes on “Muppets”
Thomas Benton
March 27, 2014
There’s a new Muppets movie, “Muppets: Most Wanted.” If your heart still beats and occasionally sweats sugar, you’ll be most wanting to see it. The team behind the 2011 “Muppets” is mostly reunited--no Jason Segel, who was the heart of that film. His absence is noted, but “Muppets: Most...
“300” sequel: 1D film, 3D sex
March 27, 2014
“300: Rise of an Empire” takes battle to the seas and continues the stylistic gore and glory that was introduced to audiences in the original 2006 release. The film follows the Greek General Themistocles, played by Sullivan Stapleton (“Animal Kingdom,” “Gangster Squad”) as he fights a...
Thawing out “Frozen”
March 27, 2014
Tuesday night I made the decision to watch Disney’s newest animated film: “Frozen.” For weeks, I had been hearing people across campus singing, “DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN? IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A SNOWMAN.” So I decided, with a notably heavy heart, to take the icy plunge into “Frozen.” As...
It was the hard-knock life for Ali
March 27, 2014
To many people in my generation, Muhammad Ali is just a boxer, and a damned good one. Most of his power as a legitimate icon has been lost in time. “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” is a film that dives into the man as he is caught in a battle of religion, race, and dissent against a brutal war. Ali’s...
An appeal on behalf of “Veronica Mars”
Thomas Benton
March 15, 2014
What rose-scented antidote is this? What flash of Hera’s bosom? What bellow from Heaven, startling jumpers back away from their ledges? What feminine hand, throwing funds into the cups of the spiritually destitute? I see a forgotten vision of neon beams cutting through the dark; seven years’ rainfall...
Goldfingered
Jim Union
February 20, 2014
Editor’s note: Jim Union’s Christian name is Richard Schlong, and he was once a private eye; kidnapped by his former nemesis, Kaufman (now known as "K."), and subjected to plastic surgery, Richard has now become an agent for an agency that doesn’t exist--operating under the name: Jim Union. &nb...
“Ender’s Game” still enjoyable almost 40 years later
Lisa Kent
February 19, 2014
Orson Scott Card’s "Ender’s Game" first came out in 1977. I read it then, and enjoyed it so much that I went on to read the rest of Card’s work as it came out. I didn’t expect to read this particular book again, but since it showed up on our "New Books" display last month here in the Willey Lib...
The Act of Killing
February 18, 2014
Imagine living in a reality where war criminals are celebrated as heroes for mass murder. Imagine that genocide goes unpunished and untried after 50 years. Now imagine befriending one of these executioners and making a film documenting the reenactment of torture and murder committed by his hands. ...
“Dallas Buyers Club” gives AIDS outbreak a personal look
February 6, 2014
This year Hollywood delivered an unadulterated and personal view into the AIDS outbreak that shook the United States in the 1980s. An almost unrecognizable Matthew McConaughey stars in the sad and brilliant “Dallas Buyers Club.” McConaughey is known for being able to bring a film to the next level,...
“Independent Lens” opens at JSC
November 14, 2013
The “Independent Lens” documentary “The State of Arizona” is playing at JSC on Dec. 3. The film documents the ongoing debate over immigration in Arizona. It is the most recent film from Vermont Public Television’s (VPT) Community Cinema program to come to Johnson State Coll...
“About Time” Marvel learns about passion
November 14, 2013
Richard Curtis is awfully undervalued. He’s the English chap who wrote “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” and wrote and directed “Love Actually.” He is the master of the rom-com. He absolutely believes in what he writes, and it...
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