Movie Review – Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the third entry in the vampire vs. werewolf action-horror series. This review will be shorter than usual because I don’t have a lot to say about this movie. What I do have to say basically elaborates on this recommendation: if you’re a fan of the series, see Rise of the Lycans; if you’re not, don’t. Read more 
DVD of the Week – Review of RocknRolla (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
My DVD pick for the week is RocknRolla, the latest exercise in style by British writer-director Guy Ritchie (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch). I didn’t much care for it, but it is accomplished and distinctive. Viewers who respond more sympathetically to Ritchie’s filmmaking should like it a lot. Read more
Movie Review – Inkheart (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
Mo Folchart (Brendan Fraser) is a Silvertongue, a person born with the mysterious power to read fictional characters off the page and into the real world. The power is unpredictable and hard to control, and its exercise carries a price: when a fictional character comes out of the book, a real person goes in. Read more
Movie Review – The Wrestler (2008)
by GEOFF GEIB
After the almost absurdly earnest The Fountain, Darren Aronofsky’s latest confection marks both a continuation of this most admirable filmmaking sensibility and a departure with a film where every character is blessed/cursed with a healthy dose of self awareness in a world that hardly rewards such a trait. Read more
81st Academy Awards (for 2008): Nominations
by HELEN GEIB
The Academy Award nominees for 2008 for best picture, animated feature, director, actress and actor, supporting actress and actor, and original and adapted screenplay are after the break. The awards ceremony is Sunday, February 22 at 8ET. Check back the week before the broadcast for our “will win” and “should win” picks. Comments to this post grumbling over the Academy’s most egregious oversights in the nominations are encouraged. Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of Max Payne (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
I would not have known Max Payne was based on a video game if I hadn’t read about it beforehand. The story plays out like it had been written for the screen, or at any rate, like it had been written for the page and then brought to the screen. What I would have guessed was that it was based on a comic book. More specifically, that it was derived, at not too far a remove, from The Punisher. Read more
Movie Review – Notorious (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
Notorious is a biopic of Christopher “Biggie” Wallace, the New York City-based 1990s rap artist who recorded under the stage name The Notorious B.I.G. Wallace was killed in 1997 at the age of 24 in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His murder remains unsolved. Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of Appaloosa (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
My DVD pick for this week is Appaloosa, a Western directed by Ed Harris and adapted from Robert Parker’s novel of the same title. Harris and Viggo Mortensen star as long-time partners in the lawmen-for-hire trade in 1880s New Mexico. The film is the story of their time working in Appaloosa, a town plagued by the activities of a criminal operation run out of a local ranch. The plot takes some unexpected and interesting turns, but the film’s principal, closely related strengths are the characterizations of the lawmen and Harris and Mortensen’s performances. Read more
Movie Review – Gran Torino (2008)
by HELEN GEIB
Gran Torino, the new film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, opens at the funeral Mass for Walt Kowalski’s beloved wife of many years, Dorothy. Dorothy is always present in her husband’s remembrance, but Walt’s grief will be eased by the unexpected friendships he builds with the Hmong-American teenage siblings who live next door. Read more
DVD of the Week – The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
by HELEN GEIB
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a delightful Japanese animated feature about the time-bending adventures of an ordinary high school girl who quite literally stumbles onto a mysterious device that imbues her with the power to jump backwards in time and re-live her immediate past. Read more
