Letterboxd — Your life in film

Do not be fooled. Just because you see Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon above the title, does not mean you are about to watch another mindless romantic comedy. I’m not sure about Witherspoon but it would appear that McConaughey is done with those, at least for now. MUD, the latest film by independent filmmaker, Jeff Nichols (TAKE SHELTER), is also the latest in a string of films where McConaughey is clearly challenging himself as an actor. Here, he has shed…

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” is generally considered by authorities on the subject to be one of the greatest American novels ever written, if not the greatest, and a cautionary tale on the more selfish aspects of the American dream. Before this year, it had been adapted for the screen four times, the most famous of which was made in 1974, directed by Jack Clayton, and starring Robert Redford as the title character, Jay Gatsby, a wealthy socialite and…

The world of genetically engineered seeds is about as intriguing a world as you would expect it to be. It’s aging farmers covertly cleaning seeds so that they can be reused; it’s men in suits following men in overalls, making sure they aren’t reselling seeds that are not supposed to be resold. It’s interesting from a historical perspective to see how the American farming industry has changed over the years from the backbone of the country to a corporate controlled…

And so Phase Two of Marvel’s Avengers begins with the release of IRON MAN 3. No pressure, of course, for the hotly anticipated return of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, arguably the most popular Avenger in the bunch. It’s been three years since Iron Man’s last solo outing but really only one since audience’s got a significant dose of him, and although Downey Jr. could play this part in his sleep if he wanted to, he doesn’t, which might…

A wedding is meant to be a celebration of love and commitment between two people made in front of their closest friends and relatives. Unfortunately for those two people, bringing together all of these supposedly supportive friends and relatives, and then throwing that beautiful love in their faces, also brings out all sorts of crazy that has been simmering beneath the surface for some time, just waiting for the perfect occasion to boil over. The bigger the wedding, the bigger…

The New York City of 1989 is not the New York City of today. Before its streets were cleaned up in the mid to late 1990’s, it was the crime capital of the country. There were so many crimes being committed at the time that there were too many to even report on in the press. There was one case though that got the attention of the entire nation, known then as the “Central Park Jogger” case. A woman was…

Like a great deal of science fiction, OBLIVION requires a lengthy prologue in order to contextualize the viewer to the hyper imaginative world they are being introduced to. In this case, that world is actually our own, just not at all like we know it. It is 2077 and 60 years prior, Earth was attacked by an alien race, known to us simply as the Scavengers, or Scavs, for short. First, the Scavs destroyed the moon, which essentially threw Earth…

If I were trying to find a director to successfully helm a movie where the central action revolves around people being lulled into a hypnotic state in a calm environment, Danny Boyle would be at both the top and bottom of my list for very different reasons. On the one hand, Boyle is ideal; his ADHD-inspired style of filmmaking could give the film energy and brisk pace even when it was trying to be still. On the other hand, that…

When I first saw Steven Spielberg’s classic, JURASSIC PARK, I was but a young, 16-year-old boy. Aside from a total lack of interest in paleontology, I was the ideal demographic to devour this incredible blockbuster, and that is exactly what I did at the time. I didn’t go so far as to bring a JURASSIC PARK lunchbox to school, as I was not fond of being beaten up, but I did see the film a few times in theatres just…

When I reviewed the original G.I. JOE film, THE RISE OF COBRA, I actually received rather menacing messages from regular readers who had seen it based on my recommendation that it was mindless fun. They felt somehow that I had abused their trust because they genuinely felt it was pure trash and not worth watching at all. I have since seen it again and still feel the same as I did then. It is not a good movie; I’m not…

Full disclosure, ADMISSION has a very obvious premise. Tina Fey stars as a Princeton admissions officer who denies people entrance professionally. Naturally, we know before the movie even begins that she will ultimately have to learn how to let down her walls and let people into her own lonely life. Not to sound too cynical but what contemporary romantic comedy doesn’t reveal its hand to you right upfront? The trick isn’t to avoid doing this though. No, to make a…

I was initially very skeptical of THE CROODS before seeing it. On the one hand, it is co-written and co-directed by Chris Sanders, the man behind the exhilarating and unexpected, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. On the other hand, it is co-written and co-directed by Kirk De Micco, the man behind the clunky, tiresome and almost entirely forgettable, SPACE CHIMPS. Would THE CROODS be a constant delight or would it just be plain crude? Well, either De Micco has become…