You know what’s refreshing? A movie about a romance between adults, made by adults and for adults. Miss and the Doctors, or Tirez la Langue, Mademoiselle (Stick Out Your Tongue, Miss, roughly translated) if you prefer the original French title, is just that. It’s a romantic drama about two brothers, opposites dependent on one another, who fall for the same woman, and how their relationship changes as a result.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: Miss and the Doctors”VIFF Review: 1987
1987 is an autobiographical film by writer/director Ricardo Trogi. He looks back at that year in his life and all the wacky hijinks that he got up to. The film is self-deprecating, honest, and funny, but it also suffers from some of the same problems that most teen coming-of-age comedies do.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: 1987”VIFF Review: Maps to the Stars
David Cronenberg makes two kinds of films: Great ones and weird ones. I’m honestly not sure which category Maps to the Stars falls into. On the one hand, it’s a biting indictment of Hollywood and the stars who live there and features some fantastic performances, but on the other, it’s a muddled mess of slow-moving plots, some of which are never resolved.
Continue reading “VIFF Review: Maps to the Stars”Review: The Maze Runner
The Maze Runner is a good movie which has an annoying ending. There’s a lot I could, and probably will, say about it but and the end of the day that’s all you need to know.
Destiny: Bang, Zoom, Eventually To The Moon
Bungie’s *Destiny* is the biggest game of the year so far and [apparently](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-10-activision-destiny-most-successful-new-video-game-franchise-launch-ever) the highest-selling day one digital console releaseĀ ever, but how does the actual game hold up against the massive expectations?
Well, if you’re a fan of *Halo*’s tight gunplay, then you’ll be in heaven. However, if you’re expecting the kind of intense single-player narrative from Bungie’s days with Master Chief, then it may leave you wanting. But this is one of *Destiny*’s main tricks; wide, open and full of excitement, it invites you to find your own stories.
And what stories they can be.
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Review: Desert Golfing (iOS, Android)
Quick Reviews: ‘The November Man’ and ‘Let’s Be Cops’
I saw two movies last week but don’t have much to say about either.
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Review: Crimsonland (PS Vita, also available on PS4 and PC)
As I got into bed last night I slipped my hand under the covers and something buzzed against it. I instinctively yanked my arm away while something black and striped and angry crawled out from underneath the duvet and headbutted the light in determined repetition. I wish I could say that my response was calm and measured, but it was more like Free Willy jumping out of the aquarium with a high-pitched yelp to match. It was dealt with.
Now, imagine that scenario but you’re in the middle of a swarm of *hundreds* of these bastards and all you have is an machine gun. Or replace the bugs with zombies, or lizard men, or tiny red demons, or mechanical spiders that split into *more* spiders, and more spiders, and *more* spiders, when you destroy them. Welcome to *Crimsonland*, where *Borderlands* meets *Earth Defense Force* in a bloodied frenzy.
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Review: Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
It’s been nearly a decade since we last visited Sin City. I liked that movie. It’s not amazing art but it kinda works for me. It was stunning on the big screen and I enjoyed it when I re-watched it and even though I have a strong dislike for Frank Miller I do love the work of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. This time around though it doesn’t work.
Quick Reviews: ‘Expendables 3’ and ‘About Alex’
I saw two movies whilst on vacation and while they’re both trying to be something they aren’t (a guilty pleasure and a shiny new _The Big Chill_ respectively) only one kinda succeeds.
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Review: Guardians of the Galaxy
The marketing for _Guardians of the Galaxy_ has basically been omnipresent for the last few months. Hardly a day went by without a new poster or image or teaser or whatever. The reason for this is simple: this is the first real test of Marvel’s brand. Guardians, like it or not, is a lesser known property and while this film connects with the over reaching continuity of the established Marvel Cinematic Universe it doesn’t actually feature any characters that we’ve already met meaning that they can’t trade on the popularity of Iron Man or Captain America they have to rely on the corporate brand. In this world of “new things are risky let’s remake something from the 1980s” that’s kind of a big deal.
So it’s a good job they knocked it out the fucking park with this movie otherwise they’d be in trouble. Yes, it’s great and you should see it. No need to even finish reading this review. Just go. Or finish reading this review and I’ll give you a few reasons why.
Quick Reviews: ‘Snowpiercer’ and ‘Lucy’
I haven’t had a lot of time this weekend but here are some quick thoughts on two movies you can see this week. There’ll be more detailed analysis in the next episode of the podcast.
Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the best movie of the summer so far. That’s not as high of praise as it should be, this summer has been rife with disappointment, but it’s high praise none the less. It’s not a perfect movie but whatever missteps it has are all ultimately forgivable given how spot on the rest of the movie is.
Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction Is Bad
There’s going to be a vocal contingent that argues that _Age of Extinction_ is the best Transformers movie. It isn’t. It’s not the worst (here’s looking at you _Revenge of The Fallen_) but it’s really not the best either. That whole discussion is kind of ridiculous though because when you stop and think you’ll realize that you’re arguing which f these terrible movies is the least terrible. If you think that’s _Age of Extinction more power to you because the movie does fix a few of the problems that the previous three had but it also introduces a bunch more problems to deal with.
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Quick Reviews: ’22 Jump Street’ and ‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’
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Last weekend I did in fact see two movies but since I was taking the weekend off I didn’t write them up. It’s a bit late now, so here are some quick impressions in case you’re trying to decide what to see this weekend.
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