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Weekend Roundtable: 2019 Movie Skepticism

Josh Zyber — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 17:00:35 +0000

We’ve made our picks for the upcoming 2019 movies we’re most anticipating. Unfortunately, the new year is bound to have some stinkers too. This week’s Roundtable is for the movies we expect to fail. Here’s that Wikipedia list of the year’s release schedule in case you need it again. Deirdre Crimmins I’m always an optimist...

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‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ Review: Payback’s a Bitch

Philip Brown — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 03:00:37 +0000

Twenty years ago, Roland Emmerich became an open wound on the side of Hollywood that still refuses to heal. His “Aliens make monuments go boom” disaster movie ‘Independence Day’ served up some of the finest practical effects footage ever produced before CGI took over the industry, along with a garbage dump worth of soap opera...

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The Trailer Park: Looking to the Past for Inspiration

M. Enois Duarte — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 19:00:36 +0000

Stories from real life are often a great source for good movies. Sadly, that’s not always the case, but the following films look to be loaded with potential. ‘Legend’ Tom Hardy is always such a blast to watch on the screen. Even when his muffled voice leaves us wondering what he just said, the man...

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Weekend Roundtable: What a Disaster!

Josh Zyber — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 20:00:18 +0000

One of the great joys of being a filmmaker, especially a filmmaker fortunate enough to play around with a big budget production, is to create an elaborate movie world and then tear it to the ground in spectacularly destructive fashion. Making a disaster movie essentially gives a director the opportunity to return to his childhood...

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Weekend Movies: White Heat

Luke Hickman — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 15:00:38 +0000

This weekend features the Battle of Stupidity. In one corner, we have a buddy cop movie featuring two unbelievably dumb characters. In the other corner is the year’s second big-budget ‘Die Hard’ knock-off set in the White House. That one’s chock full of stupid action and (hopefully) intentionally bad writing. Which will end up the...

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Now Playing: Dumbed ‘Down’

Luke Hickman — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:00:40 +0000

With the exception of his last film, the unlikely departure ‘Anonymous‘, when you go into a Roland Emmerich movie, you know to only expect two things: Explosions and shoot-outs. As long as that’s all you expect from ‘White House Down’, you might enjoy it. Channing Tatum leads this large cast as ex-military man John Cale,...

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The Trailer Park: I Wanna Channing All Over Your Tatum

M. Enois Duarte — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:06 +0000

Trailers for the summer season keep rolling in, and they’re full of CG spectacle, fantasy and mindless explosions. Of the three released in the last couple of weeks, Wolverine bares his claws again while Percy Jackson prepares for battle against the gods once more. Meanwhile, Channing Tatum continues his fantasy quest of being an action...

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Weekend Roundtable: Lamest DVD and Blu-ray Bonus Features

Josh Zyber — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:00:29 +0000

Bonus features are still a big selling point on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of movies, but who actually watches these things? As reviewers, many of us on staff are actually obligated to sit through all the commentaries, documentaries, featurettes, gag reels and miscellaneous odds and ends on the discs we review. When supplements are...

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Blu-ray Highlights for 2/7/12 – Love Means Never Having to Watch ‘Twilight’

Josh Zyber — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:00:29 +0000

It’s February, and Valentine’s Day is coming up quickly. Love and romance are in the air. Oddly, the Blu-ray release schedule is loaded up with lovey-dovey movies this week, and basically none on Valentine’s Day itself. I suppose that’s intended to give us time to buy and watch them in advance. As if we’d really...

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Weekend Movies: Shakespeare, Jack Sparrow and a Talking Cat Walk into a Bar…

Luke Hickman — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:27 +0000

Oddly enough, of the three wide openers this weekend, the movie with the biggest star (Johnny Depp) is getting the smallest release. An animated feline outlaw is opening the widest, while Justin Timberlake’s futuristic sci-fi thriller falls somewhere in between the two. Knowing that ‘The Rum Diary‘ is based on another Hunter S. Thompson novel,...

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The Trailer Park: Shakespeare and Other Adaptations

M. Enois Duarte — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:00:24 +0000

Next to remakes and reimaginings, movie adaptations of popular books or plays can draw quite a bit of controversy and debate. They’re often compared to the original sources, and unreasonably rejected for not being “faithful” enough. In the coming months and through the early part of next year, we have a slew of film adaptations...

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It’s Official: Sci-Fi Movies Are Dumb

Josh Zyber — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:00:52 +0000

I doubt that anyone will be too surprised to hear that science fiction movies are rarely scientifically accurate. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Nonetheless, when actual rocket scientists weigh in on the issue, perhaps we should give their opinions some credence. If you’ve ever wondered which movies NASA thinks are...

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