Showing Tag: " british" (Show all posts)

REVIEW: For Her Kentish Nightingale Frederica, Lady Susan Vernon Brings Love & Friendship to Churchill

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, May 31, 2016, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Love & Friendship





Directed By: Whit Stillman

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, Morfydd Clark, Jemma Redgrave, Tom Bennett, James Fleet, Justin Edwards, Jenn Murray, Stephen Fry, and Chloë Sevigny


There are such things as guilty pleasures at the box office.  They're like Donald Trump for his supporters still in the closet.  Just look to films such as Twilight, Step Up, and most horror movies.  Adaptations of Jane Austen novels appear to fit that bill as well.  Take Austen...

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REVIEW: Referring Up, Eye in the Sky Brings Down the Hellfire In Spite of the Rules of Engagement

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 19, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Eye in the Sky





Directed By: Gavin Hood

Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, and Barkhad Abdi


There may never be another like the late great Alan Rickman.  He truly was a distinguished thespian whose every word was delivered in a savory, captivating manner on the big screen.  Whether you remember him as Hans Gruber, Sheriff George, Severus Snape, or any of the many other characters he's portrayed over the years, I pray you don't remember him for his final role as Blue Caterpillar in ...

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REVIEW: Hail Tyrant Macbeth, AKA Michael Fassbender in the Next Great Shakespeare Adaptation

Posted by James Brown on Monday, December 21, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Macbeth





Directed By: Justin Kurzel

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Jack Reynor, Elizabeth Debicki, and David Thewlis


Here we are again with yet another Shakespearean adaptation at the box office. The fun thing about reviewing these films is that the narrative hardly ever factors into my review.  It's all about the execution and the overarching creative vision driving each big screen take on the famed playwright’s theatrical works (if he wrote them)...

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REVIEW: Immigrant Eilis Lacey Has a Fun Choice Between the Irish Catholic Life With Jim or the Brooklyn Dodgers Life With Tony

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, November 26, 2015, In : 0.00% Water 
Brooklyn





Directed By: John Crowley

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Jessica Paré, Eve Macklin, Nora-Jane Noone, and Emily Bett Rickards


Immigrant-themed period piece Brooklyn couldn't have had more perfect timing for its release.  It's a time when courts are blocking President Obama's executive action on immigration reform.  It's a time when Donald Trump and his fellow Republican presidential contenders are indoctrinating their base with the ...

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REVIEW: With Deeds Not Words, Foot Soldier & Suffragette Maud Watts Never Surrenders & Never Gives Up the Fight for the Vote for Women

Posted by James Brown on Monday, November 2, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Suffragette





Directed By: Sarah Gavron

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep


The best cinematic experiences are often the ones from which moviegoers take away something, the ones from which they learn something.  Entertainment and education aren't mutually exclusive objectives in filmmaking.  With all the adaptations we're seeing during this particular awards season, it's safe to say that we as a movie-going public ought to...

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REVIEW: Ex Machina's Turing Test of Magician's Assistant Ava & Her Bluebook Software Boasts One Intriguing Chess Match With No Power Cuts

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 19, 2015, In : 0.00% Water 
Ex Machina





Directed By: Alex Garland


Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac

There are many themes that have come to define the science fiction genre over the years.  Space travel, time travel, and aliens are just a few that pervade the genre.  One particular theme has stood out prominently in the last several decades, namely the battle of man versus machine.  It's mankind against the artificially intelligent beings we've created.  With films like The Terminator and The Matr...

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REVIEW: With the IRA on the Hunt in Belfast in '71, British Soldier Gary Hook Finds Himself in a Confused Situation & Has One Bloody, Brutal Night

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 22, 2015, In : 0.00% Water 
'71





Directed By: Yann Demange

Starring: Jack O'Connell, Richard Dormer, Sean Harris, Sam Reid, Charlie Murphy, Paul Anderson, and Paul Popplewell

I must admit that I've been a bit of a pessimist when it comes to the cinematic landscape as of late.  In the interest of full disclosure, there's nothing that's quite motivating me to make my way to my local theater.  The next movie on my radar is Avengers: Age of Ultron, which will not arrive until May.  While many would argue that this predisposes m...

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REVIEW: In The Woman in Black 2, Angel of Death Isn't the Good Thought With Which to Fight Edward's Bad Dreams at Eel Marsh House

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, January 3, 2015, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death





Directed By: Tom Harper

Starring: Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Adrian Rawlins, Leanne Best, and Ned Dennehy

"Fight bad dreams with good thoughts."
-Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox)

Happy New Year STMR readers!  We've put the doldrums of the 2014 box office behind us.  The movies of 2015 now lie ahead, and we've got plenty of potentially great flicks on the horizon.  This is the year of the reborn franchise.  Just look to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Juras...

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REVIEW: Despite All His Grunts, Marine Painter Mr. Turner Is a Bit Too Still

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, December 30, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Mr. Turner





Directed By: Mike Leigh

Starring: Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Lesley Manville, and Martin Savage

Mr. Turner is my last stop on the Christmas box office train, and I am actually thankful that I'm at the end of this long ride.  This holiday season, art and painting have been a noticeable theme at the forefront of the independent marketplace.  In addition to Mr. Turner, we also have Tim Burton's Big Eyes on painter Margaret Keane.  While I'm sure there ar...

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REVIEW: In The Imitation Game of Christopher Vs. Enigma at Bletchley, Alan Turing Solves the Biggest Crossword Puzzle of Them All

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 14, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
The Imitation Game





Directed By: Morten Tyldum


Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, and Rory Kinnear

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
-Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley)

Some of the best movies are the ones  in which moviegoers learn something new about how someone did something amazing that changed the world.  I know that sounds like a cliché, but that's...

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REVIEW: With Comedic Pride, Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners (L.G.S.M.)

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, October 12, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Pride





Directed By: Matthew Warchus

Starring: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Ben Schnetzer, and George MacKay


I don't normally talk about LGBT rights, but it's been an eventful week on the gay marriage front.  I am not a proponent of homosexuality.  However, I am a proponent of people having the free will to do whatever they believe as long as it does no harm to others.  The Supreme Court I typically love to hate surprised me and, for all intents and purposes, legaliz...

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REVIEW: In the New Jimi Hendrix Experience, All Is Not By My Side Because André 3000 Doesn't Play the Hits

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 27, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Jimi: All Is By My Side





Directed By: John Ridley

Starring: André Benjamin, Hayley Atwell, Burn Gorman, Imogen Poots, Andrew Buckley, and Ruth Negga

Jimi Hendrix is before my time, but I would be a fool not to recognize the profound impact his music has had on generations of musicians to follow him.  With the influence his music and his creativity have had on rock and roll and the music landscape as a whole, it should come as no surprise that filmmakers are trying to bring his tragically short l...

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REVIEW: Few Rich Patterns Are in Hector Journaling His Search for Happiness Except His Lack of a Pen & His Old Flame in a Sock Drawer Agnes

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 27, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Hector and the Search for Happiness





Directed By: Peter Chelsom

Starring: Simon Pegg, Toni Collette, Rosamund Pike, Stellan Skarsgård, Jean Reno, and Christopher Plummer

When I reflect on what happiness means to me, I think of the moments when I'm most serene.  For a guy who used to live out of a suitcase like me, the answer surprisingly lies in the skyways and wherever they take me.  It's about getting unplugged from the world around me and seeing the new beautiful places this world has to offe...

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REVIEW: Despite Her Viager, My Old Lady Mathilde Teaches Her Alcoholic Buyer Mathias That There Is No Greater Wealth Than Life

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 21, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
My Old Lady





Directed By: Israel Horovitz

Starring: Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Dominique Pinon

"If you do not love me, I shall not be loved."
-Samuel Beckett

This is going to sound completely nerdy, but I'm going to put these words out on the web anyway.  I love to learn at the movies.  Some of my most treasured cinematic memories are those where filmmakers have expanded my boundaries, exposed me to different cultures and ways of life, and enlightened me with new perspecti...

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REVIEW: From SXSW to Bluff City, Kansas, Frank & His Band SORONPRFBS Push Chinchilla Guy Jon to His Furthest Corners

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 23, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Frank





Directed By: Lenny Abrahamson

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, and Michael Fassbender

This isn't the first time I've said this, but 2014 has been a tame year at the movies.  It's not just the fact that we've had fewer high quality movies, but we just haven't had the same level of weird inventiveness.  We don't have filmmakers this year going for it all regardless of how strangely their final product may appear to moviegoers.  We haven't had the next Seven Psych...

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REVIEW: A Most Wanted Man Stumbles About Hamburg for Two Hours In Search of Terrorist Charity Seven Friends Navigation Company

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 27, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
A Most Wanted Man





Directed By: Anton Corbijn

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Daniel Brühl, Nina Hoss, and Robin Wright

The world is still reeling over the loss of the great Philip Seymour Hoffman earlier this year.  He was truly one terrific actor who could elevate the caliber of a film with his mere presence on screen.  With the passing of any celebrated artist who was still in the game at the time of his or her death, fans typically flock to theaters to see tha...

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REVIEW: Pumping Concrete for His Building & Driving to See His Newborn Baby Out of Wedlock, Locke Rocks...Just a Little

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, May 11, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Locke





Directed By: Steven Knight

Starring: Tom Hardy


I'm a huge proponent of bold, innovative filmmaking.  I'm all for writers and directors tapping into their creative juices to bring us unique cinematic visions that blow moviegoers away. That's why I've been so intrigued with Steven Knight's indie drama Locke.  The concept of a movie taking place solely from the front wheel of a car is undoubtedly challenging, but I believed it could be far more rewarding when I first learned of the film.  It ...

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REVIEW: Evaluating the Racial & Gender Constructs of Colonial England, Belle Does Anything But Take a Diminished Position with the Mansfield Clan

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 10, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Belle





Directed By: Amma Asante

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Sarah Gadon, and Tom Felton

2013 was a year full of movies about the plight of the black man.  We saw Solomon Northrup endure hell until freedom was opportunity in 12 Years a Slave.  We saw Cecil Gaines quietly smile as history marched onward for better or worse right in front of him at the White House in Lee Daniels' The Butler.  We even saw Oscar Grant have...

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REVIEW: The Alan Partridge & Pat Farrell Radio Show & Siege Is Predicated Upon the Words "Just Sack Pat"

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 20, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Alan Partridge: The Movie (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa)





Directed By: Declan Lowney

Starring: Steve Coogan and Colm Meaney


It's been a rather sparse year for the comedy genre as a whole.  The only good one to have arrived at the box office this year is Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel.  Considering about a third of the year is now in our collective rearview mirror, having just one notable comedy is not saying much at all.  With the summer movie season looming, there's always hope that some ...

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REVIEW: Thanks to a Map, a Radio, & Hellacious Torture, Railway Man Eric Lomax & Japanese Interpreter Takashi Nagase Become Good Friends

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 20, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
The Railway Man





Directed By: Jonathan Teplitzky


Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Tanroh Ishida


At the beginning of time the clock struck one
Then dropped the dew and the clock struck two
From the dew grew a tree and the clock struck three
The tree made a door and the clock struck four
Man came alive and the clock struck five
Count not, waste not the years on the clock
Behold I stand at the door and knock.

-Eric Lomax (Colin Firth)

If any...

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REVIEW: Unlucky S.O.B. Dom Hemingway, a Man With No Options, Suddenly Has All the Options in the World When the Pendulum of Luck Swings His Way

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 13, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Dom Hemingway





Directed By: Richard Shepard

Starring: Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demián Bichir, Emilia Clarke, Kerry Condon, Jumayn Hunter, and Mãdãlina Diana Ghenea

"Oh.  I'll tell you who I am.  I'm the f*cker who'll tear your nose off with my teeth.  I'm the f*cker who will gut you with a dull cheese knife and sing Gilbert and Sullivan while I do it.  I'm the f*cker who'll dump your dead body in a freezing cold lake and watch you sink to the bottom like so much shit.  I am that f*cker.  Th...

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REVIEW: In Under the Skin, Hot Alien Scarlett Johansson Seduces the Men of Scotland Into Her Pool of Black Tar-Like Liquid

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 13, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Under the Skin





Directed By: Jonathan Glazer


Starring: Scarlett Johansson

It's been quite a while since we've had a weird one at the indie box office.  There was no movie like Holy Motors or The Paperboy in 2013 to leave me utterly baffled by what transpired on the big screen.  Thus far, I can mostly say the same thing about 2014.  No filmmaker has tested the limits of moviegoers' tolerance for the bizarre or disgusting this year.  One movie this spring comes close to doing so, however.  That's J...

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REVIEW: During Le Week-End, Nick & Meg Do the Madison Dance From Jean-Luc Godard’s Bande à part All Throughout Paris

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Le Week-End





Directed By: Roger Michell

Starring: Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan, and Jeff Goldblum

A rainy weekend means one thing for most people — staying at home and getting some R&R.  Whether burying ourselves in movies, video games, or nice fluffy pillows, I'm sure we all are finding some way to enjoy the rainy weather.  For me, the rain drops falling means the same old stuff.  I'm headed to the movies to check out the latest and greatest in theaters.  The latest, but not exactly the great...

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REVIEW: In the Shadows of the Frozen Deep, Charles Dickens Dryly Oscillates Between His Public Love & Secret Invisible Woman Nelly "Lawless" Ternan

Posted by James Brown on Monday, January 20, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
The Invisible Woman





Directed By: Ralph Fiennes


Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Tom Hollander

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other."
-Charles Dickens

Ralph Fiennes is one of the few big screen talents who can seamlessly navigate between the worlds of big budget blockbusters and indie cinema.  He's a very versatile talent and has proven it time and time again.  After all, h...

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REVIEW: Saying No to Pears, Animation, & Everything Else, Mary Poppins' Family P.L. Travers is Perfectly Capable of Saving Mr. Banks

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 21, 2013, In : 0.00% Water 
Saving Mr. Banks





Directed By: John Lee Hancock

Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Rachel Griffiths, Ruth Wilson, and Colin Farrell

"Winds in the east, mist coming in.
Like somethin' is brewin' and bout to begin.
Can't put me finger on what lies in store.
But I fear what's to happen all happened before.
"
-Travers Goff (Colin Farrell)

It would be an understatement to say that our generation of moviegoers is a jaded, cynical one.  Anything that is che...

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REVIEW: In Philomena, the Evil Nuns at Roscrea Abbey Ease Martin Sixsmith's Choice Between Russian History & Human Interest Stories

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Philomena





Directed By: Stephen Frears


Starring: Judi Dench and Steve Coogan


At the start of the Thanksgiving weekend, the last thing I thought I needed was a movie about some old lady trying to find her long-lost son.  Even with Dame Judi Dench, Philomena sounded like a made-for-television movie you'd find on Lifetime or the Hallmark channel in the wee hours of the night.  Nonetheless, I've now seen it, and I must admit that I was quite wrong.  Stephen Frears's Philomena packs a surprising punch...

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REVIEW: In How I Live Now, Daisy's Will Power Is Not Quite Enough, Especially When It Comes to Cow Cheese

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, November 6, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
How I Live Now





Directed By: Kevin Macdonald

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, Anna Chancellor, George MacKay, and Harley Bird

"If the world doesn't end, that's how I want to be, here with you.  And that's how I live now."
-Daisy (Saoirse Ronan)

Romances can kill movies sometimes.  The undying need to have repeatedly schmaltzy moments can sap away all the energy on screen.  I'm sure there are a million movies that fit this description.  The worst ones usually involve teens.  When this happens, ...

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REVIEW: After the Bombing of Borough Market in London-Based Thriller Closed Circuit, MI5's Powers are at Play But Beyond John Crowley's Control

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, August 29, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Closed Circuit





Directed By: John Crowley


Starring: Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Broadbent, Riz Ahmed, and Julia Stiles


The all-encompassing reach of covert government organizations has been a hot topic for discussion this year.  That's largely thanks to whistleblower Edward Snowden and his disclosures about the NSA several months ago.  The American government is getting all the data in the world on us, and I use the term "us" fairly loosely.  If you use the Internet, you're one of...

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REVIEW: The World’s End – The King And His Pals Tackle The Glorious Golden Mile Pub Crawl In This Ridiculously Fun Sci-Fi Comedy

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, August 25, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
The World's End
SoberFilmChick




Directed by: Edgar Wright

Starring:  Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Paddy Considine, Rosamund Pike, and Pierce Brosnan

The World’s End is upon us, and I could not be more delighted.  As a huge fan of 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 2007’s Hot Fuzz, I was incredibly excited when I discovered that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright had teamed together once again for a final film in their Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy.   The films are not connected...

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REVIEW: In I Give It a Year, I Never Knew Love Like This Before

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, August 4, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
I Give It a Year





Directed By: Dan Mazer

Starring: Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Simon Baker, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, and Olivia Colman

In my review of Drinking Buddies recently, I wrote about the fact that romance films are an endangered species.  Naturally, a romantic comedy hits theaters as soon as I say that.  The British rom com I Give It a Year has made its way across the pond, and I just have to say that I never knew love like this before.  It's a quirky film ...

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REVIEW: Unfortunately for Vampires Clara and Eleanor, Neil Jordan Throws the Pages of Their Story at Byzantium to the Wind

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 14, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Byzantium





Directed By: Neil Jordan

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley, Jonny Lee Miller, and Caleb Landry Jones


As prevalent as vampire movies are, it's difficult to find a good one.  The ones we've gotten in recent years say enough.  Just go torture yourself with Twilight, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, or Kiss of the Damned.  Like the horror genre as a whole, it's bad, but it just keeps on going.  When Neil Jordan, the director who created the delightfully devilish show The B...

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REVIEW: In Unfinished Song, Rusty Old Banger Arthur Shows His True Colors When His Wife Marion Says Let's Talk About Sex

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 29, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Unfinished Song (Song for Marion)





Directed By: Paul Andrew Williams

Starring: Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Eccleston, and Vanessa Redgrave

Is it just me or do elder British actors have a lock on movies about old people?  In the last year or so, we've had The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Quartet, and now Unfinished Song.  With the exception of Amour, there haven't been too many non-British films about the elderly hitting theaters as of late.  I will say that each of these British fli...

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REVIEW: My Brother the Devil is a Terrorist, Not a Homo???

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 11, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
My Brother the Devil





Directed By: Sally El Hosaini

Starring: James Floyd, Fady Elsayed, and Saïd Taghmaoui


I was just having a conversation yesterday about homosexuality in Islamic culture.  Though I wasn't particularly interested in the conversation at the time, another individual and I were discussing how being gay is more than just taboo to Muslims.  It's comparable to a mortal sin and can often have fatal consequences.  It's so fitting that I ended up seeing Sally El Hosaini's My Brother th...

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REVIEW: In the Bloody Hypnosis Thriller Trance, Strawberry is the Word You Can't Forget

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 13, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Trance





Directed By: Danny Boyle


Starring: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent Cassel


I rarely find myself in a guessing game while at the movies.  You've got to be a really great director to keep me on my toes wondering what's real and who's got what agenda.  There's no film in recent cinema history that does this better than Inception, but this doesn't mean that I shouldn't welcome worthy imitators.  Once again, I find myself in a guessing game of sorts while watching Danny Boyle's latest...

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REVIEW: In Stoker, Both India and Charlie Put Dad's Belt to Bloody Good Use

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 17, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Stoker





Directed By: Park Chan-wook


Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver, and Phyllis Somerville


"He used to say, sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse."
-India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska)

With the indie box office back in full swing post awards season, all I've heard about is Oldboy director Park Chan-wook's latest thriller Stoker.  With good will for Chan-wook and his strong cast, the film has had lots of buzz.  ...

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REVIEW: At the Beecham House Annual Gala, the Quartet Brings Down the House with Verdi's Rigoletto

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, January 26, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 

Quartet





Directed By: Dustin Hoffman

Starring: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon, and Sheridan Smith

"Old age is for sissies."
-Cecily "Cissy" Robson (Pauline Collins)

It's no secret that we have an aging population in the US.  The baby boomers are dragging our population into old age.  Consequently, we're starting to see more and more movies about the elderly at the box office.  In the last year, we've had films such as The Best Exotic Marigold Hote...


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REVIEW: Les Misérables. I Dreamed a Dream of Time Gone by With Prisoner 24601, the French Revolution, and the Perfect Christmas Movie

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, December 25, 2012, In : 0.00% Water 

Les Misérables





Directed By: Tom Hooper

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne, and Sacha Baron Cohen

In musicals, acting is often compromised at the expense of singing.  Because a musical's selections are traditionally recorded before filming occurs, actors are playing to performances they gave before ever arriving on set.  As such, creativity and spontaneity are often stifled in actors' portrayals of their...


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REVIEW: With Hot Dogs, Mistresses, and 1812 Cartoons, Hyde Park on Hudson Takes a Swing at History and Misses

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 15, 2012, In : 0.09% Cocktails 

Hyde Park on Hudson





Directed By: Roger Michell

Starring: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Samuel West, Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Marvel, Olivia Williams, Elizabeth Wilson, Martin McDougall, and Andrew Havill

Hollywood has made one too many movies with the Great Depression and World War II as the historical backdrop.  Just look to movies like The Way Back, The Debt, and Red Tails for examples over the last couple of years alone.  It's time to make movies about some other era.  More specifically, we ...


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REVIEW: In Trishna, Freida Pinto Blossoms Like a Jasmine Flower & Then Shows Us the Sad Truth Love Has Taught Her

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 29, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Trishna





Directed By: Michael Winterbottom

Starring: Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed

I love movies about Indians.  There's something special about getting exposure to Indian culture on the big screen—their music, their dance, their arts.  These movies are often uniquely enjoyable experiences.  To some extent, it's like traveling without actually going anywhere.  With the British drama Trishna, we get just that, a healthy dose of Indian culture.

Jay (Riz Ahmed) and his friends are traveling in India. ...
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REVIEW: Whether With a Feather Duster or the Jolly Molly, Hysteria Always Satisfies With Some Old School Sex Toys

Posted by James Brown on Friday, June 8, 2012, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Hysteria





Directed By: Tanya Wexler

Starring: Felicity Jones, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, and Rupert Everett

Before we arrived at the medical and scientific knowledge we have today, many doctors were educated fools.  You wouldn't believe what some of them thought back in the day.  Many completely disregarded science and ignored life-changing discoveries from the research of a few.  They didn't believe germs existed and fostered situations in which they hurt their patients far m...
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REVIEW: Sink or Swim, The Old Folks Do It Up in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 5, 2012, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel





Directed By: John Madden

Starring: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, and Penelope Wilton

"Everything will be alright in the end.  So if it's not alright, it is not yet the end."
-Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel)

It's the summer blockbuster season once again, and we're at a time when all we get from Hollywood at the end of a hard week is a happy ending.  The world can be destroyed, but filmmakers have to make moviegoer...
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