– by ADAM DALE – It has been four years since J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” debuted and the eventual sequel to the hit has finally landed in theaters. “Star Trek Into Darkness” is using the same hit formula that worked for the franchise’s reboot, as well as adding a multitude of new [...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Deceptive Practice
– by BEV QUESTAD – A stocky man tears up a piece of paper into tiny little pieces that flake to the ground. Then a little white butterfly flutters out of his hand. He picks up a slick deck of cards and fans them out in patterns. After shuffling a half dozen times he picks [...][...]
Review: Iron Man 3
– by ADAM DALE – Just as Marvel’s “The Avengers” was the culmination of a long and very thought-out process in Marvel’s Phase One, “Iron Man 3” is the effort of a lot of hard work over the past six or seven years, starting with the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. [...]
Review: Louder Than a Bomb
– by BEV QUESTAD – If high schools put the same insane competitive energy they put into basketball and football into … well, let’s say poetry, what would it look like? You’d have tryouts to even get on the team. There would be determined coaches, individual drills and after-school [...]
Oblivion: Review
– by ADAM DALE – If I were to describe the plot to Joseph Kosinski’s “Oblivion” and leave off character names and specific details of the story and its twists, you could easily name four or five of the biggest sci-fi genre films of all time that it sounded like. This is the biggest[...]
Review: Drawing Dead
– by BEV QUESTAD – The sun is shining and a man is shown walking along an isolated road (where are those?) bordered by tall, thick grass with two dogs tramping at his side. He is pulling a cart and stops, pulls out his violin and masterfully creates an ambiance of light-hearted bliss[...]
Review: Trance
– by ADAM DALE – A mixture of “A Beautiful Mind,” “Inception” and “What Dreams May Come” is what Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “Trainspotting,” “127 Hours”) seems to be going for in his new dramatic crime thriller “Trance.” This ne[...]
Review: Olympus Has Fallen
– by ADAM DALE – While there have been many situations and tragedies that have shocked and impacted the American people over the years, if the events in “Olympus Has Fallen” were to actually occur, it would be an unbelievable tragedy that would have repercussions in the American psyc[...]
Review: Girl Rising
– by BEV QUESTAD – There is no mother, no charismatic leader and no NGO whispering inspiration to the nine little girls featured in “Girl Rising.” They simply rise up, say no to their circumstance, and through uncanny determination, attain their goal. “Girl Rising” documents [...]
Review: Oz the Great and Powerful
– by ADAM DALE – L. Frank Baum created the wonderful world of Oz in 1900 and with 14 novels in the series, Oz has vast and interesting characters to draw upon and elaborate lands to explore. In 1939, “The Wizard of Oz” sky-rocketed Judy Garland to stardom. It remains the most signifi[...]
Review: Jack the Giant Slayer
– by ADAM DALE – After multiple delays, director Bryan Singer’s fairy tale epic “Jack the Giant Slayer” is finally in theaters. Inspired by tales of Nordic and Celtic origins, Jack and his adventures defeating giants has been in print since the early 18th century and has many adapt[...]
Snitch: Review
– by ADAM DALE – Although it has been fairly common to see athletes appear in films over the years, never before has one transitioned so well onto the silver screen as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In a movie career that has now lasted more than a decade, Johnson took a professional wre[...]
Review: Kon-Tiki
– by BEV QUESTAD – In the running as one of the five nominees for Best Foreign Film, “Kon-Tiki” delivers an entertaining adventure with a terrifying storm, shark attacks and six very handsome Scandinavian men. Norwegians are noted for being self-sufficient, sparing of words (they tal[...]
Review: War Witch (aka Rebelle)
– by BEV QUESTAD – She’s 12, her country is in a civil war and she’s been kidnapped. Komona, played with stunning naturalness by 15-year-old Rachel Mwanza, is thrown over an invading rebel’s back while the villagers in her little river outpost are sprayed with machine gun fire[...]