Mini Movie Reviews Archives
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Biopic Full of Funk: GET ON UP (James Brown)
by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor I know biopics often get a bad name, they can be cliched and predictable or the reverse, so creatively told that you lose the gist of the story and the heart of the intended subject. I tend to like them good or bad, from offerings like The Runaways (Cherie Currie & Joan Jett) which didn’t quite hit the mark, to Ray (Ray Charles) and Walk The Line (Johnny Cash) that rightfully became critically acclaimed films. I’m just fascinated with the whole rise and fall aspect of telling life stories. When it comes to director Tate Taylor (The Help) efforts to tell the beginnings, middle and…
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Best Summer Movie of 2014: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
James Gunn has done the impossible: the former Troma director has recaptured the gleeful joy of old-school summer blockbusters and packaged it for modern sensibilities. Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a giddy, punk rock-infused work of pop art, blissfully aware of how pulpy it is—and damn proud of it. The director caught lightning in a bottle with this film, and it’s the most fun you’ll have at the movies all summer...
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AND SO IT GOES – Not as Good As It Gets, but Good
And So It Goes is about Oren Little (Douglas) a somewhat cantankerous widower who still runs a real estate agency in an affluent Connecticut suburb, Oren walks around with the swagger of a privileged rich, white male, but like most after the bottom fell out, is not doing quite as well as he used to, making him determined to get every penny out of selling his family estate.
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SambWrite Blog Contributor: LUCY
The film revolves around Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) – a 25-year-old student, who may or may not be studying abroad, but definitely partying it up, in Taiwain. Her friend Richard (Pilou Asbæk) forces her to deliver a suitcase to some pretty bad people led by Mr. Jang (Choi Min-shik), who we find out plans to distribute the next “it” drug across Europe. Problem is, Jang needs mules to deliver said drugs to targeted cities...
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Wish I had loved it: WISH I WAS HERE
All of these themes are great to explore in an Indie-ish/dram-edy, and it is an enjoyable movie, the issue being it's overly earnest and heavy handed in its sentimentality. For instance, when Grace cuts off all her hair and Aidan takes his daughter to get a wig, he says, "You can pick out any wig in the store as long as it's as unique and amazing as you"...
