Reading...
I guess one can assume it’s making
a comeback...
Ratatouille
Friday, June 29, 2007
As humans, we inherently love winning streaks. Whether it's the thrill of seeing a batter get a hit in thirty consecutive games or perhaps a small part of us wants to see that person fail, to see him get blanked in every at bat. The same is true of all things, and love them or hate them (but how on earth could you ever?) Pixar and writer/director Brad Bird continue their unprecedented string
Live Free of Die Hard
Thursday, June 28, 2007
The modern action genre was given birth at Nakatomi Tower in the original 'Die Hard'. Until that point, we had hard nosed cops who were never wrong, comparatively tame action scenes that usually involved one man shooting a gun, and another man slumping over and very few set pieces to speak of. Their action was defined in the loosest of terms: there was more running or shouting than any real
1408
Friday, June 22, 2007
As a horror film, '1408' the latest in a long line of Stephen King horror adaptations, pretty much fails due to same old, same old 'boo moments', a sense of emasculation (horror and PG-13 do not mix) and it's just too damn bright for its own good. As a look into the psyche of a man undone by the loss of his daughter, it is slightly more successful, because nothing is more terrifying that
Moliere
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
I can't stand seeing movies about the lives of artists. Nothing against the film-makers, I know they're trying in earnest, it's just that most artists are, well...artists and while I applaud what they do, Jesus Christ they can be pretentious. I know, I am one...sorta. If you count writing movie reviews 'art', of course.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Friday, June 15, 2007
We should all bow down and thank the Fantastic Four. Without them, I doubt we would have the X-Men, Spider-man, The Hulk and countless other superheroes. Indeed, Marvel Comics is founded upon the backs of the Storm siblings, Dr. Richards and Ben Grimm. So what the hell? Why does the First Family of Marvel get treated like a petulant five year old from a broken home? While most comic book
Ocean’s 13
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The 'Ocean' series has, if nothing else, always been about having fun. The actors are having fun. The crew is having fun. And that translates well for us, the audience, because there has not been an Ocean movie I have walked out of without a huge smile. While 'Ocean's 12' had its share of problems, it felt a little too stretched for its own good, 'Ocean's 13' rebounds with a tighter, more
Knocked Up
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
It is a scientific fact that those members of society possessing the XY chromosome make-up are genetically hard-wired to dislike the "romantic comedy" genre of films on principal alone. They're vapid, usually unfunny and very, very disconnected to the way romance and reality works. The women are usually crazy and the men are the kind you don't find in the world. Ladies, I hate to disappoint,
Bug
Sunday, June 3, 2007
There are play adaptations and then are play “adaptations”, films that make no bones about being derived from the stage and seem to be exactly that, just with better lighting, production values and camera angles to make you forget. ‘Bug’ is clearly in the second category. It has all the trappings: a lot of talking (very well written talking), very character based, a single set for the most
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Thursday, May 31, 2007
The third, but certainly not the final, chapter of the Pirates films has all the hallmarks of a true balls-to-the-wall, take no prisoners, cram way too much in for its own good and characters be damned sequel that plagues the summer seasons. Yet somehow, and I have no idea what voodoo magic they used to accomplish this, it all feels so damn GOOD! Every five minutes I was smiling like some
Shrek the Third
Monday, May 21, 2007
The second of the big three third-timers has hit us and we are once again brought into that land Far, Far Away! No, it's not a new Star Wars movie, it's Shrek and frankly, this is one fairy tale I am getting tired of hearing about.
Spider-man 3
Tuesday, May 15 2007
Is there a more accessible superhero than than Spider-Man? Batman? Too dark. Superman? Too Jesus. Ghostrider? Too dead and evil. Screw white picket fences. On paper, Spidey is the American Dream, at least for all of us nerds with glasses: he's buff and strong, has a superhuman ability, battles bad guys and has a smoking hot model girlfriend and the love and respect of an entire city.
Hot Fuzz
Saturday, April 21, 2007
My one claim to fame in this world, besides my roguish good looks and my ability to transport objects up to two pounds to Bizarro world using only my mind, is that I was in the first North American audience to witness the geektastic glory that is 'Shaun of the Dead'. It was funny, sharp and not only that, but a fantastic zombie movie and I knew the world was a better place with people like
Grindhouse
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
I will not profess to knowing much about grindhouse films, the dark underside of film in the 70s and 80s in which films with excessive amounts of violence, gore and sexuality played in dingy urban theaters to rabid fanboys. I do also know that, on the whole, the reason most people have not heard of these films until now is that they were not very good.
Reign Over Me
Friday, April 13, 2007
I never thought I would be mad at a film for being NOT shmaltzy and manipulative, but alas, here I am, talking about a movie that really needed to go for the throat in terms of soaring music and really killer moments, but yet never gets close enough to its characters to ever have the proper effect. We demand a tearjerker and for one scene, you'll know the one, we can feel them wanting to
Blades of Glory
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
In a lot of ways, sports comedies are more appealing than sports dramas. Sure, the "real" life element may be missing, but where dramas go for the touching, inspirational moments, comedies have carte blanche to go for broke and entertain us. Sometimes laughter can be better for the soul than all the grand music and inspirational touches combined. And if two men skating in tights that light
TMNT
Friday, March 30, 2007
'TMNT' is like watching a ninety minute cut scene for a videogame. And that is by no means a bad thing. There is action, intrigue, ancient monsters, some plucky characters, romance, and more action, all set to glorious CGI. The good guys win, the bad guys get sucked into a vortex to another dimension. Just like in videogames.
300
Sunday, March 11, 2007
The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC is undoubtedly one of the most important battles in Western history. In a narrow pass, 300 brave Spartans (and in reality, several hundred other Greeks), stood against an army of several hundred thousand Persians (the real number is lost to history). Though finally defeated, the Spartans severely damaged the Persian morale and, consequently, bought
Music & Lyrics
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
I love Hugh Grant. There, I've said it. He plays the same character, Hugh Grant, in every film he's in and he's just the best. He's charming, charismatic and a decent actor. His range is limited, obviously, but he fully accepts that and never strays too far outside of his comfort zone.
Zodiac
Saturday, March 3, 2007
In a lot of ways, aren't the unsolved crimes the most fascinating ones? I mean, hell, who doesn't love watching old episodes of 'Unsolved Mysteries' with Robert Stack when they come on? We love to question things. It's human nature. Why did this happen? Who did it? The hows, the whys. Everyone loves a good mystery.
The TV Set
Friday, March 2, 2007
'Masturbation' is a term that comes to mind when you hear the line: "It's a movie about getting a television show made!" Look, Hollywood, that's why they have DVDs. We don't actively pay to go see you guys working your bullshit movie magic on some new movie and/or TV show.
Starter for 10
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Simply reading the plot outline for 'Starter For 10', it is not that hard to instantly guess every single thing that happens through the 100 odd minutes of the film's running time. There's the plucky, intelligent but girl-shy protagonist, Brian (James McAvoy). The sassy, independent grrrrl, Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) and of course, the smart, out-of-his-league co-ed, Alice (Alice Eve). Toss in a
The Queen
Friday, February 23, 2007
There's something endlessly fascinating about the monarchy, especially to us Americans, where we have no official royalty. Who are these relics from a bygone day? We have an idea, a picture in our mind, as to what a queen is: poised, proper, a "decider", if you will. We have all these thoughts about something we, as a people, know virtually know nothing about. We see them as royalty, a
Letters From Iwo Jima
Friday, February 23, 2007
When it comes to World War II movies, we as Americans are very spoiled and perhaps a little one-sided. We won the war, after all, so most WWII movies are tales of triumph. Most have to do with our American bravado and fierce sense of camaraderie and loyalty. They're all powerful and all are anti-war.
Little Miss Sunshine
Friday, February 23, 2007
The crown jewel of Sundance and a taste of the nu-indie movement (cleverly disguised with big studio money + low budget = indie), 'Little Miss Sunshine' is a by the numbers, "not as clever as it thinks it is" movie that hits all the right notes emotionally that you don't even realize it's pretty standard.
Ghost Rider
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
GUEST REVIEWED BY: SVP
When I first heard about the Ghost Rider movie, I was…well…anxious. Surprisingly, I've never actually met another fan of the comic. Hell, if not for his occasional run-ins with other mainstream superheroes, even the most avid comic book reader seems to barely know who I speak of when I mention Ghost Rider’s name. I began to feel protective of my old friend with
Days of Glory (Indigenes)
Thursday, February 15, 2007
World War II is, without a doubt, one of the richest veins to mine stories from. There were hundreds of engagements, intrigue, politics, but most of all, there are the individual tales a soldier, the lowest figure in the war totem pole, has to tell. These are always the most touching, but so very often, their exploits, victories and defeats are overshadowed by those looming figures we read
The Last King of Scotland
Friday, February 9, 2007
If there is one thing we can learn from the movies it's this: don't live in Africa. Just don't do it. Now, I won't get into the reasons why (colonialism, etc), but it is not a happy place and after seeing a film like 'Scotland' or 'Blood Diamond' or 'Hotel Rwanda', I walk out of the theater and count my blessings.
Volver
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Real women are hard to come by in the movies these days. More often than not, we see righteous grrrls going toe to toe with men in action movies. And their reasons for doing so often have something to do with showing up the boys. Ripley, Trinity, Ultra-violet. Or, when not kicking ass, they're often portrayed as the damsel in distress, or the person who needs saving in some form of another,
Freedom Writers
Saturday, January 13, 2007
I've been noticing a trend recently: true life tales of inspiration. Yes, these have always been with us, some underdog overcoming tremendous odds to win (or lose), but learn a valuable lesson about life and blah, blah, blah. However, even though these movies are common place, there are fewer and fewer fictional movies of inspiration. I think that, given the nature of the times, we as a
Children of Men
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
'Children of Men', an adaptation of a novel I had never heard of by P.D. James, asks the question: what would happen if we stopped having children? If one day, nature decided to play a cruel joke on the human race and strike down all women with infertility? And it answers it not with big speeches or overlong narration, but by doing what film has always done: it shows us.
SNMR WRITTEN REVIEWS
or
“I knew that English degree would come in handy someday!”
Let us assume, for a moment, that on a given week, Hollywood releases about three films in major theaters. Now, whether most of these belong there is another matter. That being said, over the course of a year, the big H releases about 156 films to a nationwide audience. And, let us also assume that both Matt and I have other things to do during a week (well, I know Matt does), which leaves us with approximately 104 days during the year to make a Same Night Movie Review, given that these things are getting more and more extravagant and time consuming with each passing review. In fact, I do believe eventually, the budget on these reviews will rival those of the movies in question, but that is neither here nor there. Anyways, that would mean that our weekends would be booked solid, giving us little time for, I dunno, actually seeing the movies, so let’s cut that number in half and say we can, hypothetically, review 52 movies in any calendar year. We already know that probably will not happen, given our lives and the aforementioned nature of reviews, so we will reserve reviews for only the “important” and “big” films, such as Mission: Impossible III or Da Vinci Code. So, with all that in mind, given time constraints, we simply cannot do a video review for every single movie that comes out. Not that we would, because a lot of movies released nowadays are crap and not worth our, or anyone’s, time.
However, some films simply slip under the radar and so we decided to implement a written review section to catch up on those movies we either failed to see together or just had no interest in creating a mini-movie for. No one would argue with us that United 93 probably is not the wisest thing to rant on about. This, like the rest of the site, is a fairly new development, so there are not that many reviews in it, but as time and money allow, I will be putting more and more up. This is also an interesting section as it allows us, and I mean me, Steve, to go beyond the wild shenanigans and rants associated with our video reviews and actually give us some journalistic credentials. Ha! Like we need their support.
Oh, and true to fashion, the reviews that will be coming out in this section will be written on the same night as the screening of the film. And yes, I will take the requisite amount of shots beforehand. Therefore, if you see my pristine grammar plummet substantially, you’ll know why.
So, below us is the archive section, I know it’s practically barren, but stick with me and you will see there’s more to SNMR than just blackjack and hookers…
Alright, so there’s not much more to it than that.
