Movies Articles

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Friday, 12th February 2010 @ 8:51 AM

After "The Wolfman" you would very much start to think that a full moon was every night, night after night, or that a screenplay can mandate sun and moon cycles as it pleases. But that is just one of many, many mistakes that this latest creature feature makes. It is far less crucial to its failure than its inability to make you concerned about its characters. This is a movie where Benicio del Toro ("Traffic") and Anthony Hopkins ("Meet Joe Black") play father and ... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Brad Sturdivant @ Thursday, 11th February 2010 @ 11:04 PM

Before the hate mail comes flying in, let me clearly state that I love Star Wars. The 1977 film is my favorite movie of all time and I even loved the prequels. Sure, they had their problems, but overall they were fun to watch and I've spent a lot of time defending them. But the point of this article is to say that George Lucas needs to let it go. We had the prequels, the animated movie, the cartoon and now maybe even a live action TV show. Didn't Lucas learn anything with the Star... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Brad Sturdivant @ Wednesday, 10th February 2010 @ 1:21 PM

When Christian Bale had his outburst on the set of Terminator Salvation, I kind of shrugged my shoulders and mumbled "that's about right". Bale has been doing all of these major studio movies lately and it seems like a far cry from what he had always stated he wanted to do. Bale was supposed to do one or two studio films and then go straight back to doing quality independent films that showcased his acting and ability. This might be hard to understand for people that get c... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Steve Albright @ Sunday, 31st January 2010 @ 11:05 PM

Many films come out every year but there are not many movies capital in changing the way Hollywood makes feature films. When these types of movies do come out they are a great pleasure to watch and are treat to movie goers, but beyond that their affect remains in the way that they influence the entire industry. Each genre of film has had its own rising star that accomplished this feat. When you think of epic battle movies the one that really became a game changer was Brave Heart. In wh... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Ryan Round @ Wednesday, 27th January 2010 @ 10:22 PM

Don't you just love the Avatar movie? Wasn't seeing it the biggest 3-D screen viewing experience of a lifetime? Of course you've seen it, having grossed more than $1 billion in less than three weeks of being released. Written and directed by James Cameron, no movie has ever grossed more money other than his film Titanic. The Avatar story takes place on a far away moon called Pandora. Pandora is such a beautiful place that after the exhilaration felt in the theater, regular... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Steve Albright @ Wednesday, 27th January 2010 @ 6:01 PM

In the world of Hollywood it's beyond difficult to make it, this has been true since movies became popular and flocks of Midwestern kids headed west to make their dreams come true. When a star does breakthrough it's due to years of persistence and hard work, although it's also important to recognize the movies capital in launching their new careers. If you look back in film history you can always spot one or more of these types of movies. These are the kind that put a sta... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Tuesday, 26th January 2010 @ 6:48 PM

The first reassurance of Fantastic Mr. Fox is that it is very much in the tone and spirit of filmmaker Wes Anderson's other films. This is the coolest animated film of the year, one of the reasons it dazzles is the fact that stop-motion animation is so rare. But when stop-motion is done well it feels like the fanciest art form out there. Anderson isn't going for fancy though (but he achieves it anyway with his impeccable craft), he's going for hip. Working with clean dolly ... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:22 PM

"The Book of Eli" is post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a drifting hero (with an initial undisclosed purpose) travelling west, and he is embodied by none other than Denzel Washington as the title character. This is a violent and graphic film, with gray skies and brown deserts, desaturated from realistic colors to the point that some of the visuals look black & white. In an early deadly encounter as Eli faces off some homicidal scavengers underneath a bridge, it is filmed in high contra... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:22 PM

Everybody's doing them, but I am most passionate about mine. Or at least that's what I say about my own work. I was at such a peak at ten that I couldn't limit it to that number, so I have a top 20. There were too many films that needed another look around, another write-up, so why punish those? And while the Coen Brothers had a smashing time again and again especially with their last three films their early entries this decade, "Intolerable Cruelty" and "The ... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:21 PM

The road, one must assume, has got to be a great and exciting place for a musician. But when you're 57 and travelling on the road, and alone... well it is just that. Lonely and dissatisfying. Jeff Bridges is Bad Blake, a one-time popular country singer and boozer in Crazy Heart. He is more ashamed about his real given name than he is about his drinking. He drinks all day before his performances, sometime taking place at a bowling alley in the southwest. If he can, he will have a dri... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:21 PM

Michael Mann's ambitious "Public Enemies" is infused with luster, glitz, flair, firepower, egomania, ball-busting and bravado. This is one of those rare movies that is larger than life. In the means that our everyday lives pale in comparison. The movie sees recklessness and exhilaration as two of the same. At its center, John Dillinger is a bold and brash personality who dared to turn his criminal persona into something cool, the movie suggests, saying he was a bad guy but he was a ... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:20 PM

"Brothers" strains for an accessible way to teach the audience something about PTSD, that disorder that has plagued soldiers coming home from Iraq. The main crux of the movie is a carefully positioned moral crisis. Tobey Maguire is the soldier presumed dead in Afghanistan. Jake Gyllenhaal is the ex-con brother who watches over Maguire's wife, Natalie Portman. Physical sparks happen between Gyllenhaal and Portman, and then, guilt and finger-pointing. Every scene of the movie ... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:20 PM

The reason why "The Lovely Bones" as a film connects emotionally with you is because of actress Saoirse Ronan as young teen Susie Salmon. And this occurs in a film studded with other well-known actors such as Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci who himself does his first non-cliched performance in at least a decade (he's that bald, hardnosed and snobby character actor). The young Ronan is a 15-year old actress who was nominated for "Atonement,&q... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:20 PM

When you have this kind of poster, and this kind of match-up of tailor-made stars, and this kind of fish out of water premise, you deduce naturally that Did You Hear About the Morgans? is this Christmas' romantic comedy offering. If you've been indoors all-month long and haven't done your holiday shopping, then perhaps you haven't seen the poster. To sum it up, Hugh Grant looks befuddled and Sarah Jessica Parker looks inconvenienced. The Morgans are a separated New Yo... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Sean Chavel @ Monday, 25th January 2010 @ 8:19 PM

By judging the advertising sheet for Invictus you would think that the film belongs to Matt Damon and rugby. Yet the film really belongs to Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, shaping the richest and most indelible portrait of the South African president put on film. When you are in the hands of director Clint Eastwood, whom is as active and agile as any filmmaker today ("Gran Torino" was his preceding effort, a box office hit), you can count on a class act. This is not to say that... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Steve Albright @ Sunday, 17th January 2010 @ 11:03 PM

There are so many new technologies and mediums for watching movies and shows online that you are no longer restricted to just simply watching on a standard TV. There are many different websites that allow you to watch programming online. The trick to finding your online movies capital is to know where to look. Some websites will claim that they can have you watching movies for no charge at all but you need to be careful with those sites as most don't have licensing rights to show those m... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Andy West @ Friday, 15th January 2010 @ 12:15 PM

Fireplaces and films: perfect together. They add romance or destroy it, depending on the scene, yet they nevertheless often play important roles in film. The beauty of the fireplace on the big screen makes for movie magic. Think about it. How many films have you seen where one brings people together for a romantic tryst? In Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Anakin and Padme are brought together there and are part of a superbly powerful scene. Surrounded by its warmth, it is an ... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Richard Cunningham @ Monday, 11th January 2010 @ 9:29 PM

Does Robin Hood seem to be a real person to you? For centuries many people have wondered about that. Let's take a look at real outlaws that may have inspired or been inspired by him and the Merry Men. Brace yourself for the quest to find that elusive outlaw of Sherwood and Barnsdale. For centuries chroniclers wrote about when him existed. However, their dates clashed each other, and we don't know the chroniclers' logic for choosing various dates. Someone also went far as fa... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Art Gib @ Tuesday, 5th January 2010 @ 1:49 PM

Many of us have been able to enjoy a lot of time off of work during the holidays. It seems to me like it is a much needed break after all the days spent working so hard during the year. I have been able to relax and spend time with family and have some fun playing games and getting to know them even better. This is a great way to spend the holiday. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to think of things to do when you have more time off of work than you are used to having. I found myse... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Movies | By Brad Sturdivant @ Monday, 4th January 2010 @ 9:52 PM

Richie Valens, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Darin, Ray Charles and Johnny Cash are just some of the famous musicians that have gotten major Hollywood biopics made about them over the years. While there are many more musicians that deserve their own movie, none of them deserve it more than Bob Dylan. I've been a Dylan fan for a few years now and although his music is something you just have "to get", his persona and legend is undeniable. And yes, I know last year, I'm Not T... more...