Michael Eugene Smith

  • Hits: 898
    Web Link Riddick
    David Twohy and Vin Diesel partnered up again for this latest effort in their Riddick trilogy. Sadly, viewing the third installment was akin to watching a snail race where the creatures were on Quaaludes. Ultimately, the film felt like a diluted revisit to the original and best of the Riddick trilogy, Pitch Black.
  • Hits: 943
    Web Link The Drop
    The Drop, starring James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace and Tom Hardy is a wonderfully paced and low-key character study of a former tough guy and his cousin. Directed by Michaël R. Roskam, in what is his second feature length film and adapted by Dennis Lehane from his own short story Animal Rescue, the film is a visit to the underbelly of the back streets and alleyways of Brooklyn. Lehane deviated from his usual setting of Boston and as a result the movie almost sings with the wealth of “Brooklyn-ese” that spills from the lips of all the characters.
  • Hits: 910
    Web Link Innocence
    Innocence, starring Linus Roache (Batman Begins, The Chronicles of Riddick), Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes, Eden Lake), Sophie Curtis (Arbitrage, The Art of Getting By), Graham Phillips (Evan Almighty, The Good Wife) and Sarah Sutherland (Beneath the Harvest Sky, Veep) seems to say that private school can be hell. It could even imply that book clubs in upper class learning institutes are bad for your health. The film does seem to be saying a lot in the time it’s on screen and doing so very well.
  • Hits: 844
    Web Link The Identical
    2014 is obviously the year of the religious feel good film and the next one in line is The Identical. Made by City of Peace Films, which is so new there is no existing information about the production company on IMDbPro, this rated PG film – for “smoking and thematic material” – has the feel of an “After School Special” for bigger kids.
  • Hits: 808
    Web Link Land Ho!
    Sony Pictures Classics snapped up the distribution rights to Gamechanger Films’ Land Ho! a quiet amusing film about two not so grumpy old men who face their mutual “late-life” crisis together on a tour of Iceland. The men, one recently retired surgeon Mitch and his ex-brother-in-law Colin meet up after the latter’s second marriage dies.
  • Hits: 860
    Web Link The November Man
    As The November Man Pierce Brosnan “kills” in this post Cold War spy film where action replaces smooth moves and sterling wit. At 61, The former Bond and Remington Steele actor may have been deemed too long in the tooth to play 007, but the Brit performer shows he still has what it takes in the action man arena.
  • Hits: 828
    Web Link As Above, So Below
    As Above, So Below may not be the first film to go into the catacombs underneath Paris but this version of subterranean terror certainly keeps the audience tensely on the edge of their seats throughout the entire movie experience. The Legendary Pictures and Universal Studios marriage has not delivered the scariest film of the year, however, and their POV type of filming, a la The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, et al, was not the filmmakers best idea by a long-shot.
  • Hits: 870
    Web Link If I Stay
    Gayle Forman joins the ranks of Young Adult authors who have had their work adapted for film, the 2009 book If I Stay, a youthful romantic drama which has its fair share of laughter and tears has been made into a film starring Chloë Grace Moretz. The 17 year-old actress plays Mia Hall, a gifted cellist whose unconventional family are suddenly and tragically taken away from her. The teenager survives a car crash but is in a coma. The film, like the book, follows her out-of-body revelations while deciding to live or die.
  • Hits: 834
    Web Link Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
    The long awaited Sin City sequel A Dame to Kill For is a pretty satisfying follow up to the original and Robert Rodriguez rocks it without a doubt. Frank Miller’s dark graphic novel never looked so good. In terms of appearance that much is very true. The 3D aspect makes it feel as though the film is being viewed from within.
  • Hits: 882
    Web Link The Giver
    2014 appears to be the year of films about similarly themed young adult science fiction stories, The Giver, opening in cinemas on August 15, does deviate a bit from the others in that this film is about sets of memories that are made up of all the pleasant and unpleasant things in life. This “utopian” society, so bland that it exists in a black and white world, has entrusted these remembrances to one member of society known as “The Receiver.” This person becomes known as “The Giver” when a new Receiver comes along to be trained.
  • Hits: 917
    Web Link The Expendables 3
    The Expendables 3 feels a little flat without Bruce Willis as Church and the middle is a bit saggy, perhaps as much as Kelsey Grammer’s middle but Antonio Banderas saves the entire film as the best action-man/comic relief imaginable. It never helps a film when an actor who was in the first two installments of a franchise leaves suddenly with a good portion of bad publicity. Willis was fired from the third segment of this popular escapist action “series” amid producer Sylvester Stallone’s Twitter tirade where he accused Bruce of being greedy and lazy.
  • Hits: 907
    Web Link The Hundred-Foot Journey
    Based on the book, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a cute culinary tale starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri as the two restaurateurs who spar in a small French town. Directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) the film is a delightful blend of humor and a clashing of cultures. Both Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey loved the book, from which the movie was adapted, so much so that they became producers on the film, along with Juliet Blake. It is easy to see why the two loved the theme so much, it deals with a hopeful protagonist, his offspring and a miserable older widow who owns the only eating establishment in a small town.
  • Hits: 809
    Web Link Into the Storm
    Back in 1996, Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton starred in Twister which had a pretty good storyline and wonderful performances from both actors, in 2014 Into the Storm has a predictable chaos formula that gives “great tornado” but little in the way of performances. This is not the actors’ fault. It is just that the characters in the film are not too deep. Relying upon stereotypical “types” rather than in-depth roles that feel real.
  • Hits: 961
    Web Link Island of Lemurs: Madagascar
    The short documentary Island of Lemurs: Madagascar makes splendid use of Morgan Freeman who adds gravitas to this 39 minute 3D and IMAX gem. Ever since 2005 when the, then, 68 year-old actor narrated the award-winning feature length documentary March of the Penguins, Freeman has been lending his voice to other fact-based films.
  • Hits: 898
    Web Link Lucy
    Scarlett Johansson is Lucy in this darkly humorous treat from Luc Besson. It has to be said that this film will not appeal to everyone. Only true Besson fans will enjoy this film, although many may not understand the parallels that run throughout the entire movie. However, if those viewers who loved Fifth Element and its music, which guided events to the end of the film, see his latest effort, they will most surely love it.
  • Hits: 870
    Web Link And So It Goes
    Castle Rock Entertainment presents Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton in And So It Goes and they are slow to start warming up to in the film itself. It could well be that the rich, old character that Douglas plays is unpleasant enough it puts the audience off enough that even kindly old Ms. Keaton can’t summon up any warmth.
  • Hits: 962
    Web Link Hercules
    The MGM and Paramount feature Hercules, with Dwayne Johnson is an impressive retelling of the legendary myth of a stupendously strong hero in an alternative story of a demigod. While many will automatically think of the actor Kevin Sorbo and his small screen portrayal of the “half God” hero, this film’s different slant on the strongman should put Johnson in a league all his own.
  • Hits: 837
    Web Link Guardians of the Galaxy
    Guardians of the Galaxy may well be the most fun anyone can have at the cinema this year with its mix of 1980s rock and unbelievable fun. Written and directed by James Gunn, this film delivers across the board in genres that hit all the right marks. The movie is a splendid combination of action, science fiction, adventure and comedy. Gunn proved that he could used comedy in this type of genre before when he wrote and directed the 2006 comedy/horror/science fiction film Slither, starring Nathan Fillion.
  • Hits: 878
    Web Link Get On UP
    2014 seems to be the year of revisiting the lives of musical legends, Jersey Boys in June and now Get on Up starring Chadwick Boseman who is music legend James Brown in this entertaining biopic. It has to be said that the casting for the two main leads in this cinematic look-back at the “Godfather of Soul” with his humble and poverty stricken beginnings is spot on. Boseman gives his version of Brown a living breathing reality that feels real right down to the splits he does onstage.
  • Hits: 827
    Web Link Snowpiercer
    Snowpiercer, the South Korean directed science fiction thriller based on a French graphic novel and starring Chris Evans, was shot in 2012. It was released in 2013 in South Korea and was then shown in just about every country in the world but the U.S. because of the film’s producer Harvey Weinstein.
  • Hits: 834
    Web Link Oculus
    Horror fans can rejoice, Oculus is one scary a** movie. An advanced screening of this superior scarefest on film left me practically stunned by the time the end credits rolled. Michael Flanagan does a bang up job of piling on those moments that either have you peering sideways at the screen or ready to jump out of your skin. We’ve included the film’s trailer below.
  • Hits: 908
    Web Link The Amazing Spider-Man 2
    Watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was like being in the middle of one the world’s most awesome video games. Speaking to another “Spidey” fan two weeks prior to this advanced screening, we both agreed that the first of the Spider-Man remakes felt as though the filmmakers had taken a leaf out of the video game Mirror’s Edge. For those who have not played the game, it was the “first” first-person action/adventure platforming game and it was developed by EA Digital Illusions CE.
  • Hits: 888
    Web Link Tusk
    The genius known as Kevin Smith has created a wonderful, wickedly weird film called Tusk. While it is highly recommended that audiences should flock to see the quirky movie, not everyone will get it. Those that cannot connect with the genius and “out of the box” delivery by Smith’s cast and crew, will most likely hate it or fail to see all the things that this film does.
  • Hits: 761
    Web Link A Walk Among the Tombstones
    Liam Neeson in A Walk Among the Tombstones portrays a man who has gone beyond the edge and returned, one who knows all about monsters and heroes. The film works hard to depict society’s underbelly and its denizens in a realistic light while showing what real horrors walk our streets and threaten even the worst of us. Based on the book of the same name penned by author Lawrence Block, the film’s protagonist is Matt Scudder an ex-cop, alcoholic and a man who distrusts modern technology. He is also the main character in 17 books written by Block.
  • Hits: 706
    Web Link This is Where I Leave You
    This Is Where I Leave You can be seen as a different sort of modern family tale starring Jason Bateman, Timothy Olyphant, Adam Driver, Corey Stall, Rose Byrne, Tina Fey and Jane Fonda. Directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum 1, 2 and 3) and adapted for the screen by the Jonathan Tropper, author of the book that the film is based on, is an amusing and sometimes awkward look at family life in the white collar world of the professional.
  • Hits: 737
    Web Link The Maze Runner
    2014 has brought a wealth of Young Adult books to the screen and the latest to join this ever growing list is James Dashner’s The Maze Runner which does not walk through its cinematic version of the story. This year has seen a number of post apocalyptic science fiction stories to be adapted from Young Adult literary roots and made into films for this targeted audience.
  • Hits: 892
    Web Link The Equalizer
    This big screen version of the 1980’s series The Equalizer, which starred English actor Edward Woodward as Robert Mccall thrills just as much, if not more, with Denzel Washington playing the former governmental tough guy. The audience certainly enjoyed seeing the star dish out punishment to the bad guys with spontaneous applause breaking out whenever McCall took out another baddie. Widespread laughter in all the right places and a good amount of cheering went on as well. Despite the obvious satisfaction displayed by the majority of the audience there were a few things that could have been changed to enhance the story onscreen.
  • Hits: 808
    Web Link The Boxtrolls
    Going in to see The Boxtrolls, it is quite easy to get excited about the pedigree brought to the film by certain performers who are voicing main characters, but the film does not work, it is an American attempt at British Humor that just does not make it. The film loses its way very quickly at the beginning and never recovers from its directionless meandering. At the start of the movie screening attended by this reviewer a number of the audience were laughing or chuckling at events on screen. However, after the initial 15 minutes of the film’s open passed, the amusement dried up and younger members of the audience lost interest in whatever was happening in the stop-motion film.
  • Hits: 803
    Web Link Love Is Strange
    Love Is Strange has John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as two gay men in a senior citizen romance that goes sour once it has been made official. To be fair, only Lithgow’s character is really a senior citizen – in real life at age 69 – Molina is just under at 61. The two award winning actors play Ben and George. The men have been partners for 39 years and after all that time the two decide to tie the knot and get married. The idea, although not mentioned in the film, must have come from the recent legalization of same sex marriage in New York.
  • Hits: 898
    Web Link Annabelle
    Set against the backdrop of Charles Manson and his drugged out family of killers as well as a time when people were questioning whether God was dead, Annabelle features the demon doll first seen in James Wan’s film The Conjuring and the creepy looking thing scares very thoroughly indeed. On the plus side, there are some gooseflesh inducing moments and clever little touches that the audience may miss while screaming at the more obvious “scare...”
  • Hits: 833
    Web Link Gone Girl
    Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry is most definitely a multi faceted crime tale of the finest order, or a modern love story, depending on how one looks at it. If anyone looks very closely at the events in the film, it really could be the latter rather than the former or a brilliant combination of the two. Based upon the 2012 book of the same name by Gillian Flynn the film starts on the five year anniversary of the two main protagonists, Nick and Amy Dunne.
  • Hits: 798
    Web Link The Judge
    The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall and Vera Farmiga is meant to be a drama, and the Iron Man star tries to play a grown up instead of his usual glib Tony Stark persona. He succeeds despite an audience who found his every utterance devastatingly funny. Listed as a drama, and it is, The Judge has some lovely light comic touches to alleviate the heaviness of the plot, some moments work better than others. For the disturbing comic touch, reference the making out scene in the bar and its later significance. Despite the focus on the dramatic, it seems that the screening crowd thought the film was a comedy or a very funny dramedy.
  • Hits: 895
    Web Link I Am Ali
    I Am Ali showcases “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali through a life in sound. According to the film and shown throughout, the boxer liked to record his conversations. He taped everyone he talked to, his family and friends especially. These audio clips from different times of his life where he seems to be speaking mainly to his children reveal a side of the boxer not seen by the public before. There are other recordings available to listen to, however, and these also show a depth to the three time world champion many would never believe existed.
  • Hits: 840
    Web Link Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
    It seems that for every Frozen Disney feels compelled to produce an Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; the first film had a very definite audience and was enjoyed by both younger audience members and their older parents. The latter film had the smaller viewers fidgeting, talking and, most importantly, not laughing; some of their guardians were laughing but these “guffaws” were far and few between, with the first out-loud laugh not coming until 15 minutes into the film. For a comedy, this long delay to get to the funny does not bode well.
  • Hits: 712
    Web Link Kill the Messenger
    Kill the Messenger is a sobering film as well as an informative one and it allows Jeremy Renner to shine in a way that leaves Marvel and his Bourne films behind. The 43 year-old actor is a jack of all trades in that he is adroit in most genres. Whether the roles are in horror, 28 Weeks Later or action, The Avengers or action comedy Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters the actor submits for the audience an innate believability. Viewers feel he believes so they do also, no matter how ludicrous the film.
  • Hits: 791
    Web Link Dracula Untold
    Universal makes a great return to the horror genre with Dracula Untold, a good old fashioned popcorn film, not to be taken seriously but to be enjoyed. Directed by Gary Shore, in what is his first venture into feature films, and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless using characters from Bram Stoker’s Dracula the film is a CGI heavy, epically scoped twist on the myth of Vlad Tepes. The movie’s plot is a variation on Faust where the Transylvanian leader essentially sells his soul in order to save his son from the hostile Turks as well as his people.
  • Hits: 829
    Web Link The Good Lie
    The Good Lie, the title appears to be taken from a scene in Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, stars Reese Witherspoon as the biggest name in the film, she actually spend very little time on screen, and this could well be the best “feel good” film of 2014. Taking real life stories of Sudanese children who had to flee their home country as its inspiration the movie follows a small group of boys and one girl from the same village who have to run when the adults are all killed in an attack.
  • Hits: 856
    Web Link Fury
    Columbia Pictures with their version of World War Two in Fury has Brad Pitt with a Platoon type tank unit that argues, fights, and has a love/hate relationship with each member; alternatively bullying and connecting with one another. Written and directed by David Ayers (Sabotage, Street Kings) the film is set in April 1945 and follows the tank crew of the Fury as they advance deep into Nazi Germany. The premise of the movie deals with the fact that the German tanks were far superior to the Allies’ machinery.
  • Hits: 923
    Web Link The Best of Me
    Nicholas Sparks has more than a fair share of romantic weepy films for love story addicts to choose from, the latest being The Best of Me starring James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan in a predictable tissue grabbing movie. Set in Louisiana it features the age old cliche of star crossed young lovers where the boy is from the wrong side of the tracks and the girl comes from a monied background. Her father offers to buy off the teenage boy she loves, but as things turn out, that futile and infuriating gesture was not really necessary.
  • Hits: 839
    Web Link The Book of Life
    Reel FX teams up with Twentieth Century Fox to bring the animated feature The Book of Life to screen and the film has something for everyone, including Ron Perlman and Zoe Saldana who make a great double act for all ages. Produced by Guillermo del Toro, co-written and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez the movie starts in modern times with five students who are, as a hapless museum tour guide puts it, the detention kids.
  • Hits: 843
    Web Link St Vincent
    Bill Murray in St. Vincent gives an Oscar worthy performance in a comedy that makes one think and in at least two places in the film cry buckets of those hot schmaltzy tears which are guaranteed to embarrass the men in the audience. The tears are a real surprise as the film plays its comedic moments so well that when the plot takes a shift in direction the audience is caught flat footed and these sentimental moments hit all the harder because of it.
  • Hits: 982
    Web Link Ouija
    Ouija has a tagline that goes, “Keep telling yourself it’s just a game.” In reality, there is no need to do that, the film is not that scary. While it attempts to fall fully into the horror genre it really is a combination ghost story/mystery. A group of youngsters have one of their number kill herself and the gang attempt to track down what really happened. This is after the one girl who dies tried to unsuccessfully destroy a Ouija board by burning it and the planchette that goes with it.
  • Hits: 882
    Web Link John Wick
    Keanu Reeves is on top form in John Wick, not only giving his 1994 film Speed a run for its money but leaving his character Neo back in The Matrix in this adrenaline fuelled action thriller where Reeves plays the ultimate bad-a** John Wick. The plot, in a nutshell, has the retired hitman struggling to deal with the love of his life’s death. His wife, before she dies leaves her husband a puppy, so he will have something to love. Enter Isosef Tarasov son of Viggo Tarasov, who is the old boss of Wick. A chance meeting at a gas station has the boy offering to buy John’s car, he refuses and the Russian mobster comes back, beats Wick, kills his dog and steals his car. When Viggo finds out what his son has done, he arranges to have Wick killed.
  • Hits: 814
    Web Link Dear White People
    Can an Indiegogo funded film, as Dear White People was, lay claim to being the new satirical consciousness of young people in a country on its second term of Obama politics? Where the characters use insults like “a Lisa Bonet lookalike wannabe,” and “wannabe Black Panthers” and one of the lead character’s does not like his white girlfriend to say “thang.” The black students in an ivy league school struggle to find their identity in a time of U.S. history where the first black president has been in the White House for two terms. The issue, behind Dear White People‘s amusing look at racism being the “obvious” plot, is more about university students learning how to be true to themselves, learning about their identity and what really constitutes racism in this “new world.”
  • Hits: 755
    Web Link Interstellar
    Christopher Nolan’s latest offering, in IMAX no less, is an epic new journey of discovery which takes Matthew McConaughey through a wormhole; in Interstellar, Nolan has tipped his directorial hat to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and managed to “out-Roddenberry” the Star Trek creator with worlds that surpass most imaginations. This long spectacular film entertains on a level that many movies aim for but few attain. This star studded feature, with five Oscar winners on board, should be seen in IMAX to get the full effect of what the director’s vision for the film is. Interstellar is a completely immersive experience, one that sucks the audience in and holds them captive for the entire 2 hour 9 minute run time.
  • Hits: 884
    Web Link Big Hero 6
    Disney has taken a solo journey into a more esoteric Marvel verse with Big Hero 6 and the studio is firing on all cylinders with this very entertaining film aimed at not just the younger members of the audience but their parents as well. This is the Disney of old, Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Up, and so on. The soft happy-ish start, the suckerpunch – guaranteed to make the most cynical viewer take that sharp inhaled shocked breath – and the young hero, excuse the pun, making good. This big 3D spectacular will keep audiences enthralled and excited about what transpires on-screen.
  • Hits: 802
    Web Link Laggies
    In Laggies, Keira Knightley proves that growing up is hard to do, especially if you are a step or two behind your 20 something friends who all have their lives seemingly sorted out. Directed more than capably by Lynn Shelton (Touchy Feely, Your Sister’s Sister) from a screenplay by Andrea Seigel, in her first effort, the film looks at Megan, who at 20 something still stops by to be her dad’s “sign girl.” She has also developed an inability to connect with her oldest and dearest friends.
  • Hits: 894
    Web Link Birdman
    In Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Michael Keaton gives a performance that simultaneously works as a selling vehicle for the late short-story author Raymond Carver and conveys a certain surrealism against a backdrop of seedy reality. The film, directed as well as co-written by Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel) tells the story of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) who turned his back on a lucrative career in a film franchise about a feathered superhero. The underlying theme in the film deals with Riggan’s self obsession and his mental state is shown by the Birdman character talking to the actor when they are alone.
  • Hits: 813
    Web Link Whiplash
    Watching J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller in Whiplash is an exhausting proposition, as both are gripping and intense inside their characters. Viewers of the Damien Chazelle written and directed film will, at times, be on the edge of their seat as the story unfolds. This splendidly consuming character study of not just musicians but the world of professional music and those who inhabit it is, by the time the final credits roll, tiring. The urge to slump forward in the theater seat limp with exhaustion is almost overwhelming, which is also as good a descriptive word as any to refer to this film.
  • Hits: 1231
    Web Link Beyond the Lights
    Beyond the lights stars Gugu Sophia Mbatha (Odd Thomas, Belle) as Noni, Minnie Driver as her stage mother Macy Jean who takes on the world and the record company for her girl, later it is mother vs. Nate Parker (Non-Stop, Arbitrage) as the cop, Kaz who saves Noni’s life and the two fall in love. Danny Glover is the police captain father of Kaz, Captain Nicol, who has big plans for his son in the world of politics. Written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees) Beyond the Lights starts with a young Noni winning first runner up in a local talent show in England and her mother telling her to throw the award away.