Just how much CGI is too much?
By: Kayla Ferguson
A recent cinematic trend has been that of exceptional computer-generated graphics, otherwise known as CGI. From Avatar to The Dark Knight to The Hobbit, many of the recent box-office hits utilize computer generated “realism” that is ironically hardly real at all.
Needless to say, this trend has been met with both exuberant praise and harsh criticism, with no clear consensus among critics or the industry
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Click here to see 2012′s Most Loved Fictional Couples
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Bourne Again: A Review of The ‘Bourne Legacy’
By: Chelsea Callahan
If you loved the Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, or Bourne Ultimatum when they hit theaters, The Bourne Legacy will quickly join them on your list of favorites. Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, was completely sexy and a total badass through the first three installments of this series, but the forth piece in the story of the super-charged killing machines proves to be potentially even better.
Jason Bourne was just the tip of the iceberg, or so it would seem.
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Bond, James Bond Has Returned
By: Chelsea Callahan
James Bond has been a figure in thousands of lives all over the globe. Men aspire to be him; women swoon over his suave attitude. Every one of the 24 Bond films has had a major following. Rolling Stone’s latest issue even has provided us with a list of the films rated best to worst. Goldfinger was picked number one with Quantum of Solace coming in last.
Mr. Bond has been played by six different men in those 24 films. Sean Connery (7), Roger Moore (7), Pierce Bronson (4), Timothy Dalton (2), and George Lazenby with one in between Connery’s long stint as the character.
The most recent addition, now with three Bond films under his belt, is Daniel Craig, hailed as the best and baddest Bond since Connery. When he was cast for his Bond debut in Casino Royale, though, Craig was seen as a bad choice. People were not happy about his looks—he was the wrong height, his hair the wrong color, and he didn’t have the same cool air that they believed belonged to Bond. But after his debut, those naysayers were silenced….
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‘The Words’ Speaks Volumes
By: Chelsea Callahan
The Words is a moving and powerful story, both heart-wrenching and beautiful. The characters take any and all viewers on an amazing journey. Jeremy Irons says in a video available on Imdb.com that words are “Life, it’s the basis of our communication, power … consequences …” and the story of The Words is life.
It begins with an author, Clay Hammond, reading his novel, about another author, Rory Jansen, who is searching for his inspiration. We don’t know much about Clay, but we learn all about Rory very quickly. He’s a struggling writer.
“I’m not who I thought I was, and I’m terrified I never will be,” Rory says in the trailer. He hits rock bottom, and then something amazing happens. He finds pages–typewriter typed pages–stuck inside a briefcase his wife bought him in France.
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‘The Independent’ Misses The Mark
By: Kayla Ferguson
The 2000s were a decade that praised independent film for its artistic exploration outside of major blockbusters. It seems out of line and almost sacrilegious to create a film that appears to mock everything independent film stands for. The Independent, directed by Stephen Kessler, is a failed attempt at a comedic portrayal of the struggles associated with independent film making.
It’s hard to decide which part of the film is less humorous
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Casablanca: Best of the Classics
By Kayla Ferguson
It’s easy to be nostalgic about Old Hollywood films. Old Hollywood and the advent of New Hollywood in the 60s gave birth to some of the most respected films that remain at the top of the “best films” list, even in 2012, when digital capabilities have far surpassed the quality of films from previous decades.
The reason they call these “The Classics” is because they stand the test of time; they will forever be seen as examples of cinematic excellence. So which Classic film has earned the honor of being called the best of the lot?…..
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Lawless:Proving Action Indestructible
By: Kayla Ferguson
(Spoliers Warning)
It’s hard to make a boring movie about moonshine. Lawless is a solid period piece about Prohibition and the chaos surrounding it.
The film, based on a true story and directed by John Hillcoat, is based on Matt Bondurant’s book “The Wettest County in the World,” set in Franklin County, Virginia, during the 1930s. While the movie could have delved deeper into the moral and ethical issues that came to light during the Prohibition period, the brass knuckles and Tommy guns were enough to keep the movie entertaining.
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Is Sick Humor Here To Stay?
By: Kayla Ferguson
Superbad (2007) grossed $169,871,719 as of May 2008; The Hangover Part II (2011) made $86,035,000 opening weekend; Ted (2012) made $54, 415, 205 opening weekend. Reality television stars now have the ability to make as much money as some A-list actors. It’s difficult to definitively explain why or how this trend came to be, but the numbers are pretty explicit: people love crude humor.
Unsophisticated humor has been around Hollywood for a while now. In recent years though, with movies like Superbad, Knocked Up, Role Models, and countless others, that the production and money-making ability of such humor has skyrocketed. They often times use recycled jokes and inappropriate content to propel the story. It’s hardly sophisticated art, so why do we keep going back for more? Two words: perverted voyeurism.
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4 Movie Twists that Should have happened.
By: Lee Smith
Cinema boasts many twist endings, whether it’s Luke finding out he has some daddy issues or Bruce Willis discovering why the hell no one except some creepy little boy talks to him anymore in “The Sixth Sense”. I was watching Fight Club the other night (for the sixteenth billionth time) and I got to thinking, what if all movies had to have shocker endings? Let’s apply the theory to some classic blockbusters.
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Ruby Sparks, In More Ways Than One
By Kayla Ferguson
Ruby Sparks is a fearless portrayal about the power of the imagination. It takes the seemingly childish notion of imaginary friends and turns it into a satisfying story about the creative process, romantic struggles and the strength that comes from surrendering power.
Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Paul Dano stars as Calvin, a struggling writer trying to move past his reputation as a child wonder but unable to find a story that he feels is worth telling….
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Batman and Aurora
By: Kayla Ferguson
“I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theater is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me.” –Christopher Nolan
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Adaptation: The Moviegoer’s Quicksand
By : Chelsea Callahan
Step one: choose a movie. Sounds easy right? Wrong. Most people have a hundred different things that help them choose what they want to see. Was the preview good? Is the director good? Is it there a right time of day to see that kind of movie? Am I in the mood for it? There are many questions that have to be answered before you enter the theater.
There is one question in the mélange that actually stops a lot of moviegoers from attending the showings. That being, “Have I read the book?”
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A Band Called Death: Los Angeles Film Festival
By: Kayla Ferguson
A black punk rock band. In the 70’s. Wait, what?
That’s right. Around before the Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash, A Band Called Death, made Motown cool and jammed to punk rock before punk rock even existed.
The documentary, A Band Called Death, directed by Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino debuted recently at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival and moviegoers were not disappointed.
The movie subliminally denounces the idea of strict forms of “black” and “white” music and proves that for a passionate artist, anything is possible…
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The Legendary Flick
By Chelsea Callahan
Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, 300, Immortals, King Arthur, Troy, Alexander
Over the past few years a string of movies has been produced about heroes, not just super heroes like the Avengers but legendary heroes. The movies above are only a select few of those films. With each of them though there is the legend.
Stories have always had power. Every name meant something. Your name and your history was your greatest currency. Having your name remembered made you immortal….
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The Soloist Masterpiece
By Chelsea Callahan
Sitting down to write is like sitting down to go to the bathroom when you don’t have to. You get nothing out of it. You may get a few little gems of whit and giggles from putting together words that only make sense in a thousand different ways but inevitably they result in a resounding nothing.
The true gem of a story comes like a cool breeze in summer that wasn’t supposed to be there. It is a gift from the ether. Not to get to poetic over it but that’s the gist of how inspiration works. Whether you believe in muses, God, divine inspiration, or something else, the stories we write and read come from somewhere in that moment when you least expect them.
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Show Me How You Burlesque
By Chelsea Callahan
The word “burlesque” is defined in a couple ways if you Google it, but what it comes down to is some sort of parody or a comically exaggerated imitation of something, and most often these days that “something” is sexual. Fire & Ice has talked about “Steampunk” and the culture that has steamed out of it, but it is not the only underground and barely known lifestyle out there.
It wasn’t until Steve Antin’s film Burlesque in 2010 that we were forced to sit up and remember the art form. Burlesque returned to the world, revivified and full of all the glitz and glam it deserves in the 119 minutes worth of that movie.
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The Avengers is a Must See!
By Chelsea Callahan
For a while now, the world has been bombarded with super hero films, staring heroes we’ve known about before and a few not so much. This enormous build up is all for one film: The Avengers. The trail of bread crumbs beginning with the release of Iron Man.
The 2008 movie, Iron Man, was great; it kept you on your toes, and made you love Robert Downey Jr. and his snarky humor as the billionaire playboy Tony Stark. What a lot of people didn’t know however was that after the credits there was a bonus scene, where Stark was confronted by none other than Nick Fury, and SHEILD….
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Zombie Mania
By Sabrina McGettigan
In case you haven’t been watching any television or movies lately, it has been taken over by zombies. There’s “The Walking Dead” on AMC, “Death Valley,” “Dawn of the Dead” in multiple remakes, “28 Days Later,” “Zombieland,” “Night of the Living Dead,” and the list goes on and on.
The simple answer to why there are so many zombie plots is because Americans enjoy them, but that’s the wrong question. The real question is why do we enjoy them so much?
