Star Trek Into Darkness Movie Review

I’ll be the first to admit that I was never a Star Trek fan growing up.  When I first discovered what the show and movies were about I had already pledged my allegiance to the more colorful and diverse world of Star Wars.  The only things I knew about the show were Captain Kirk, Spock and the Vulcan Salute.  Until J.J. Abrams’ first film was released the only actual footage of Star Trek I had seen was the movie Star Trek: Nemesis back when I was a freshman in high school.  Eventually Paramount had decided to reboot the franchise and that’s when I began to learn more and

Aftershock Movie Review

Jack-of-All-Trades Eli Roth produced, co-wrote, and stars in Aftershock, which was directed/co-written by Chilean director Nicolás López.  The film takes place during the 2010 Chile earthquake, the sixth largest earthquake in recorded history.  The setting is ideal for a horror/thriller/disaster movie, although there’s a lot to like here I think the final product is ultimately a wasted opportunity.

Roth’s character, known only as Gringo, is the type of drunk tool American tourist who has too much money to spend and not enough sense to realize that he’s acting like a spoiled teenager spending his daddy’s money.  In fact, Gringo and his friends — Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicolás Martínez), who has connections throughout the city because of his rich father — end up meeting a group of young girls who seem to actually be spending

Mud Movie Review

Seven or so years ago an invitation to see a movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon would send me running away in fear.  At that time, both were mostly known for lighthearted romantic comedy roles.  But 2013 finds both — particularly McConaughey — in much better standing.  Last year McConaughey starred in two of my favorite 2011/2012 movies, Bernie and Killer Joe, and he seems hellbent on proving that yes, he can act.  Thankfully, we can add Mud to the list of stellar McConaughey performances.

Oblivion Movie Review

Directed and co-written by Tron: Legacy’s Joseph Kosinski, Oblivion is set in 2077 after earth had been evacuated due to a massive war, which the humans won, against aliens.  Needing resources for the lunar colony, Tom Cruise stars as Jack Harper, a security repairman whose sole job is to monitor and fix downed drones that patrol he and Victoria’s (Andrea Riseborough) section of earth, that kill the aliens that are left scavenging the planet for resources and that protect the precious water vacuums that are the lifeblood of the lunar colony near Saturn.

When a ship crash lands near his sector, Jack goes against protocol and discovers a bunch of humans in sleeping stases, one of which is a woman named Julia (Olga Kurylenko) who he has been dreaming about lately.  Soon his past will catch

Trance Review

Danny Boyle always manages to surprise me with his diverse slate of film.  Always stunning to watch, the champion of lighting and mood, and usually cool stories, goes back to his roots with his latest film, Trance, an exhilarating heist picture about the exploration of the human mind.

Trance follows Simon (James McAvoy), an art auctioneer who teams up with a group of criminals to steal Francisco Goya’s painting, Witches in the Air, worth millions but during the heist he gets hit in the head and can’t remember where he hid the painting.  When gang leader Frank (Vincent Cassel) can’t seem to pry the information from Simon using his traditional means of torture, the two seek out a hypnotherapist named Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) to crack Smion’s psyche open

Jurassic Park 3D Review

One of the first movies in which I can actually remember going to the theater and seeing as a kid was Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.  It was an epic experience fueled by one of my favorite things in life at the time, dinosaurs.  After years of wishing I could see the film on the big screen again, Universal decided to have the film converted to 3D for a re-release of the timeless classic and boy did it bring a sense of wonder back to my life, making me feel like a kid all over again.

I’m going to keep this review very simple because Jurassic Park shouldn’t need an explanation in this day in age, everyone has seen it though, if you were born after 1991 you probably haven’t seen it in a theater.  If you’ve never seen Jurassic Park well, I just feel sad for you.  If you don’t know what it’s about I’m not going to tell you, ask your parents.  If don’t have parents, ask your siblings.  If you don’t have siblings, ask your friends.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Review

G.I. Joe: Retaliation didn’t have much going for it when I sat down to watch the film.  Sure, it had a pretty good cast, but it had a director, Jon Chu, who had only made movies like Step Up, it had the pleasure of following up a critically trashed original, and that its release was delayed for nine months to allow for it to be converted into 3D and potentially add more Channing Tatum after he finally blew up.  Well the verdict is in on this action packed feature and it’s a mixed bag, but one really fun mixed bag.

In the sequel, the G.I. Joe unit falls under attack and are called traitors by the President of the United States.  The remaining Joes are forced to go underground to figure out what happened, find out who is behind it and, most importantly, they have to avenge their fallen comrades.  On top of that, the Joes must also battle their mortal enemy Cobra and their evil leader, Cobra Commander.