Archive for July, 2009
A comic with a fatal disease
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
According to the new Judd Apatow movie, “Funny People,” Adam Sandler has become part of comedy’s old guard. Thinking of Sandler, who plays a stand-up comedian who makes dopey movies that appeal to five-year-olds, as a gray beard of humor depresses me, but that may be part of [...]
Movie Preview: Tron Legacy (TRON 2)
Rating 4.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
You may have heard that Disney is following up the film TRON with a sequel. In fact you probably heard that rumor for the last 2 decades. But much like the Chinese Democracy album by Guns N Roses, this too has finally come to pass.
Considering the Tron [...]
It’s all in the family — for Coppola
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
No matter what kind of movies he makes, I always feel some admiration for Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola’s last movie, “Youth Without Youth,” was an awful muddle, but I admired the fact that cinema’s flamboyant maestro seemed intent on ignoring Hollywood convention and following his muse. Coppola has [...]
Economic and spiritual crisis in Japan
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
A driving rain rakes the side of the house. A woman rushes toward an open set of doors. She hurriedly slides the doors shut, and begins wiping water from the floor. But does she really want to shut out the storm or does something about it appeal to [...]
Movie Preview: Book of Eli
Rating 4.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
Well the movie trailer has been released and Book of Eli looks like it will be another hit for Denzel Washington.
I have to say that I am impressed. Denzel Washington is not known for his action movies. Actually, other than a couple of fist fights or [...]
Can you make ROOM for another classic horrible film?
Rating 4.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
I truly can’t call this a movie preview, as THE ROOM has been out for some 6 years now. Still it is a very safe bet that almost everybody has not seen this movie. And I can show you why.
Besides the company graphic, this movie trailer is [...]
“The Orphan” abandons all logic
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
I keep hoping that someone — other than a Korean or Japanese director — will make an effectively creepy horror film. After seeing the much-publicized “Orphan,” I’m still waiting. The first scene in the movie involves a nightmare delivery of a baby, and, of course, we know that [...]
He’s in love, but is she?
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
We’ve all been there or some place like it. You love her, but she insists that she’s not interested in a long-term relationship. Eventually, you may come up with a more precise interpretation of her position; i.e., she might be open to going the distance, but not with [...]
The Willie G. Experience
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Northwest Harley Blog
Willie G. Celeb Chair
It’s that time of year where charities try to rise above the steady drum beat of donation noise.
It got me thinking about Harley-Davidson and MDA’s challenge to garner more rider attention and the ever important donations. Then wham, this idea came to [...]
DC Comics to movie conversions - reality or waste of time?
Rating 3.50 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
If you are a fan of comic books, or the flood of movies based on comic book characters, you probably have wondered
“Are there any characters besides the Marvel line-up?”
Comic book fans all know that this is an overstatement of the facts. There are a host of characters [...]
When girls must fend for themselves
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
The unseen backstory of “Treeless Mountain” involves a young woman who left her parents’ farm and headed for Seoul. There, she met a man, became involved and had two daughters. She probably loved him, but he may not have loved her. Eventually, the girls’ father split, leaving Mom [...]
Movie Preview: BULL
Rating 4.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
BULL is another film that caught my attention. The trailer is stylized and slick. It has a sun-washed look and gives an image of a darker Ocean’s Eleven.
The most important thing to recall in this film is the first thing said in the trailer
“Do you think [...]
An unparalleled passion for collecting
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
What a concept, buying art because you respond to it, not because you think it might be a smart investment. That’s what Herb & Dorothy Vogel do, and their approach has allowed a retired postal worker and a former librarian to amass one of the world’s most extensive [...]
Marking time with Harry — Potter, that is
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
Generally speaking, the Harry Potter movies have maintained a reasonable level of quality while being careful to remain as faithful to J. K. Rowling’s beloved books as possible. The huge fan base for Rowling’s massive series probably is enough to ensure financial success, and the sixth installment, “Harry [...]
Prepare for the arrival of Thor, and Natalie Portman
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
I was wondering, what is it you think of when you hear the name Thor? You know, the Norse god of Thunder. A mythological being that lives in Asgard, and is the source of the day of the week called Thursday.
For those only slightly familiar with the [...]
Laughing at Bruno, but cringing, too
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
Here’s the thing about “Bruno,” the second film featuring one of Sacha Baron Cohen’s stock characters, an aggressively gay Austrian fashionista who hosts a TV program called “Funkyzeit.” Before you purchase a ticket, you need to know that Baron Cohen’s follow-up to “Borat” pushes the envelope in terms [...]
The Iraq war through a narrow lens
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
Kathryn Bigelow makes movies that guys tend to like, pictures such as “Blue Steel” and “Point Break.” Now Bigelow has ventured into waters that have spelled doom for most other directors. She has taken on the Iraq war, and to do it she has tightened her focus to [...]
Movie Preview: Blood:The Last Vampire
Rating 4.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
If you want to see something outside the usual Hollywood mega-explosion, action without plot, summer blockbusters I think there is another choice. It’s a film that most have likely not heard of, unless you happen to be into anime and/or manga. Blood: The Last Vampire is a [...]
It’s worth discovering ‘Secret of the Grain’
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
The final half hour of “The Secret of the Grain,” a film about a Tunisian family living in the French port city of Sete, contains some of the most agonizing footage I’ve seen. Murder? Hardly. Another form of criminal mayhem? Nope. In this case, the pain and frustration [...]
Three movies: Miserable in New York, lonely on the moon and disoriented in China
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
Teaming Woody Allen and Larry David suggests a quotient of unhappiness that could push any misery meter over the red line. On the surface, the combination seems like a natural.
But differences in approach between the two comics keep them from forming the expected perfect union. Where Allen’s comedy [...]
Movie Preview: Sherlock Holmes
Rating 4.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
As is wont of so many movies these days, the film Sherlock Holmes – starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law – is a physical take on an old theme. At least that is what the trailer is displaying at this moment.
I find it odd that one [...]
Movie Preview: Gamer
Rating 4.00 out of 5
[?]Written by Black Entertainment USA
There is no question that video games are the wave of the future. The industry has steadily moved to become one of the leading forms of entertainment, and massively multiplayer online games have a firm grip in forging that path. But what will the future bring?
That is [...]
An ace bad man almost gets his due
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Denerstein Unleashed
When John Dillinger was shot outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago on a July night in 1934, Jack Lait of the International News service reported the event in the kind of pulpy prose that defined some of the day’s best journalism: “John Dillinger, ace bad man of the [...]
