Two very different FX dramas came to a close this past week, let’s take a closer look… The Strain…Although I’ve begun to grow tired of the supernatural horror television genre, I have to admit that this show got under my skin. [Three points for the pun!] Most sci-fi or fantasy-based TV shows are either trying…
Category: Mindless Mondays
TV Review: “Tethered” and “Naked and Afraid”
Discovery has cornered the market on “extreme” survival shows that don’t actually pay the contestants anything but do look a hell of a lot harder than Survivor… “Naked and Afraid”…A show I stumbled across at 2 o’clock in the morning one night and could hardly believe my eyes. It turns out, there are people out…
Monday Morning Movie Review: Gone Girl
“Gone Girl” is a hard film to review because it’s based on a book I would consider to be a masterpiece of “genre” fiction (technically a mystery/thriller but really more a deep psychological profile of a psychopath and a marriage folded into a thriller framework), and unlike 99.99 percent of books, it was a monster…
Movie Review: “The Boxtrolls” When Ugly’s Never Looked So Unique
A children’s film that is both visually unique and nasty. I enjoyed it as an art experiment, but will kids really enjoy a film where the human characters are more disgusting than the trolls? Maybe “enjoy” isn’t the right word… What Works: The movie contains a nice message about not listening to fear mongers or…
Movie Review: “The Equalizer” Vs. “A Walk Among The Tombstones”
Two films (both based on something, either an old TV show or a book) opened recently that were very similar in plot structure—a once-great actor now known mostly for action roles (Denzel Washington, Liam Neeson) plays a retired hard-ass who gets mixed up in a shadowy crime web and tries to dismantle some sinister criminals…
10 Fall Movies I’m Looking Forward to, and 10 I’m Not
Better late than never, it’s time for the 10 Fall movies I’m most looking forward to, 10 I’m not looking forward to, and 5 I’m not so sure about Top 10 Fall Movies I’m Not Looking Forward to… Runners-Up: Laggies…Keira Knightley has been trying to make it happen for a very long time now, combine…
TV Reviews: “Ray Donovan,” “Masters of Sex,” and “Welcome to Sweden”
Which one of these things is not like the other? Welp, I watched “Welcome to Sweden” but it’s not really enough of a show to review on its own, so I thought I’d lump it in here… Masters of Sex…This Showtime series really struggled in its sophomore season. The first season wasn’t exactly great…
TV Reviews: “The Quest” “An Honorable Woman” “Married” “You’re the Worst” “The Leftovers”
All of these shows have come and gone, but why not review them (real quick) anyway? Married…Likable characters exploring marriage but each episode feels a little more aimless (and more specific/less realistic) than the last. Grade for Season One: B- You’re the Worst…Supposedly unlikable characters that I actually liked more than all the you-must-like-me leads…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: The Maze Runner
Another generic young adult dystopian fantasy, but there are some solidly suspenseful moments. What Works: For a long while, the mystery of a moving, seemingly organic maze is fairly captivating. There’s a real atmosphere of suspense and dread in the first two thirds that hooks you. And it’s only after the movie is over that you realize…
Movie Review: This is Where I Leave You
As a novel, this book by Jonathan Tropper is just one of the 500-a-year “Jewish family dramedy” novels but as a movie it is a little different than the glut of sequels and remakes currently taking up screen real estate. And that uniqueness—-especially after such a stale summer—-might make the film feel more original and less generic…
Movie Review: The Drop
Another film that never fully comes to life, but it does come a lot closer. “The Drop” is a slow-boiling crime film that doesn’t grab you but won’t fully put you to sleep either. What Works: James Gandolfini’s final performance is required viewing for cineastes, and he owns every scene he’s in. His “Cousin Marv”…
Movie Review: If I Stay
Blah Blah Blah…this movie is blah blah blah What Works: Chloe Grace Moretz can do no wrong, but here she comes pretty close. What Doesn’t: There’s just a general sleepiness at the core of this thing that really creates distance for the audience after a while. It’s ironic that a film about a young girl…
Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy
This movie came out over a month ago and defied all expectations to become an enormous crowd pleaser and the highest grossing film of the year (it’ll likely stay that way since the competition isn’t particularly robust in the Fall). But with the distance of time, does it really live up to the hype? What…