Fresh on the Menu
-
Great Gatsby, The (2013)
"THE GREAT GATSBY" FALLS SHORT OF ITS TITULAR "GREATNESS!" The Great Gatsby is a complete defecation of glamor and glitz, much unlike its literary source material; although, with a story so restrained, the flamboyance of the production could be seen by some as a hindrance. This is not a movie for everyone; and I’ll even venture to say that its most avid loathe...
-
Iron Man 3 (2013)
LIKE TONY STARK'S SUIT, THE SERIES IS GETTING RUSTY, BUT STILL KICKS HARDCORE BUTT! Tony Stark is back, re-clad in his iron suit… and we can revel in the knowledge that the series, like the entrepreneur’s armor, although slightly corroded, is still in full functioning order. The directorial reins have been handed down from the more-than-capable Jon Favreau to the equally skill...
-
Spring Breakers (2013)
TOTO, I DON'T THINK WE'RE IN WAVERLY PLACE ANYMORE! Is “Spring Breakers” a coked-out modern allegory or a veneration of extreme party cultures? That is for the viewer to decide. I can only speak on my behalf and recognize that this is a cinematically provocative film with visual eye-candy galore that goes above and beyond the four attractive female leads. Selena Gomez an...
-
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW, THERE'S A WHOLE LOT OF GREEN SCREEN! This Oz prequel has been a few decades in the planning, and I can candidly say there’s not much here on exhibition to show for it. The actors traipse along without a sliver of devotion to the source material, and one gets a sense that director Sam Raimi was not on his A-game during this production. We’re talking...
-
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
IT'S AN ADVENTURE OF IMMENSE PROPORTIONS! Once again, we get another fairytale mash-up with director Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer, but this time I am pleased to inform you that it’s actually not half bad. The film’s opening is slightly contrived and gimmicky for an overall movie-viewing spectacle that is as much a rousing adventure as it is a visually enticing...
-
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE! A lot of time is spent on half-scale exposition in Katherine Bigelow’s new political thriller Zero Dark Thirty. Immediately it propels us into the intrigue involving al-Qaeda and its anti-American, terrorist initiatives, but it seems to drag its feet when shining light on the organization’s leading man, Osama bin Laden (but only on the ou...
-
Django Unchained (2012)
TARANTINO HAS TACKLED NAZI GERMANY, NOW HE TAKES ON SLAVERY! Django Unchained opens on your typical dry Western landscape. A couple of slave traders on horseback are herding a group of slaves, among who roves the wild-eyed Django (“The D is silent), across this desiccated countryside. Django (Jamie Foxx) is freed by a roaming, German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz playe...
-
Les Miserables (2012)
A WHOLE LOT OF SINGING AND ENOUGH TEAR-JERKING EMOTION TO GO AROUND! Victor Hugo’s classic novel comes to breathtaking life on the big-screen… again. Luckily for us, it is mounted by Tom Hooper, the scrupulous director who brought us the much beloved The King’s Speech. In the hands of a less affectionate filmmaker, Les Misérables could have run the risk of tur...
