Film.com The Big Hitter

Review: The Box is Uber Creepy Yet Interesting

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:23:00 PST

"Not an easy film to talk about, but one worth seeing."

The Box is not an easy film to talk about. Almost every description of the film will end up as a spoiler, it's fairly high concept, and it has a few glaring problems. However, The Box also presents huge moral dilemmas and is a genuine candidate for "cult-classic" status. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, perhaps some amalgamation of confused and captivated. Yes, The Box confustivated me.

Borrowing from the synopsis:…

Review: A Christmas Carol Not Merry Enough

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:07:00 PST

"This version of A Christmas Carol has very little story and even less Christmas cheer."

The old aphorism goes "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater," but the makers of the latest iteration of A Christmas Carol have flipped the script; they've created a film that looks amazing and combined it with an appalling lack of story. In essence they've provided a lovely, piping hot bath, all the while forgetting to actually place the dirty baby into it. We're left with only a…

Pixar: By The Numbers

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:28:00 PST

We get into arguments about Pixar all the time around the office. Why? When your average film garners approval from 95 percent of the critics there's plenty of room for disagreement. It becomes a bit like choosing your favorite spice. Can you really find the exact difference between red and white pepper?

So we decided to strip out all the emotion and focus on four crucial categories we could measure objectively. They are, in no particular order:

1. Fan reaction
2. Critical reaction
3. Box office…

Big Hitter: A Christmas Carol, Christopher Walken, and New DVD Release Dates

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:08:00 PST

What I'm Seeing This Week
A Christmas Carol, Pirate Radio, and The Box. My quick thoughts on each: I don't quite get why Jim Carrey had to play eight parts in Christmas Carol; Pirate Radio evidently had huge problems before finally getting a new title and release date; and Cameron Diaz threw out a major spoiler for The Box when I was at The San Diego Comic-Con. If merely one of these films turns out to be worth raving about I'll be most pleased. As I tweeted last week, the writers' strike has…

Review: This is It a Nice Homage

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:52:00 PDT

"This is It is, at its core, an homage to Michael's art."

It's generally pointless to discuss marketing where films are concerned. Too many marketers are trying to hit too many demographics with too many advertisements, and thus it becomes a bit like unscrambling an egg. But in the case of Michael Jackson's This is It there truly are only two main crowds: 1) Fans who want to see it and could care less about anything besides the music and 2) Non-fans who won't be seeing it…

Your Weekend Movie Preview

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:38:00 PDT

Hi there!

Welcome to our newest weekly feature, your one-stop shopping for planning all your cinematic sojourns. This week we've got trailers, reviews, interviews, photos, and a special treat at the end. Spend five minutes with us and we'll give you the world ... or at least some solid movie advice.

First up, the film that should win at the box office, Saw VI. Sadly, they didn't screen Saw VI for critics, so we won't have a review up until Monday. However, we did rank the first five films of the S…

Review: Amelia Looks Great ... but Plods

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:06:00 PDT

"What Amelia ends up being is a film that doesn't honor its subject.

Amelia has a dynamite last half hour. And it looks very nice throughout the two hours -- but the first 90 minutes are sappy, silly, and devoid of compelling scenes, which leaves me at an impasse. Can I tell you to buy a ticket to the last 30 minutes? Can I give Mira Nair and Hilary Swank a pass for bringing very little to the table during the first two acts of the film? I don't think I can, or at least I don't…

Review: Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Crashes

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:54:00 PDT

"There's very little lifeblood flowing through this."

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant suffers from a little issue I like to call the Jumper Syndrome. That's when you get a bunch of people in a room who plan out a franchise, a full three to four films' worth, forgetting to actually make one good movie to start with. They are like folks merrily planning that long-awaited addition to their house ... that they currently only rent.

Sadly, the completely unformed (and…

Big Hitter: In Defense of Twilight and This Weekend's Box Office Winner Will Be...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:33:00 PDT

What I'm Seeing This Week
Only two films on the schedule: Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant and Amelia. The first film is getting decent buzz from online critics while the second was/is an Academy Award contender. Variety hated both of them, so that's probably a good sign.

What I Saw Last Week
The Road, Law Abiding Citizen, and Where the Wild Things Are. As I reviewed Law Abiding Citizen (click here), I won't get into that one again, but I've got a few quick thoughts on Where the Wild…

Your Weekend Movie Preview

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:27:00 PDT

Hi there!

First up, the film that should win at the box office, Where the Wild Things Are.

Here's the review of Where The Wild Things Are, a middlin' B-, we also interviewed Spike Jonze (click here).

Here's a Whe…