Author Archive
Film Review – Dear Mr. Watterson
In fifth grade, our “cool” teacher Mr. Horne assigned the class a “Reading Day,” encouraging us to bring in a book of our choice and sit silently while he spent the day catching up on paperwork. I lugged in a stack of Calvin and Hobbes…
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Film Review – Homefront
Originally conceived as a starring vehicle for himself, Sylvester Stallone adapted Chuck Logan‘s novel Homefront into a screenplay that then promptly sat on a shelf to gather dust. By the time it was finally set to go into production, Sly deemed himself too old and…
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Film Review – Delivery Man
Vince Vaughn has comfortably slipped into a suit of smarmor ™ for the better part of his career. Following a brief and mostly unsuccessful foray into darker territory (Return to Paradise, Psycho, The Cell), Vaughn seemed content embodying slight variations of the wise-cracking, button-pushing jerk…
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Film Review – Nebraska
Alexander Payne‘s filmography is akin to Wes Anderson‘s in that it’s instantly recognizable as being his own unique style. You could have plopped me in a theater seat and showed this to me sans opening credits and I like to think I could have nailed…
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Film Review – Last Vegas
When the first trailer for Last Vegas began making the internet rounds, there was nary a comment section that didn’t immediately call it out as being “The Hangover for old people!” An understandable assessment given the locale, but, where the Hangover series reveled in raunchiness,…
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Film Review – Machete Kills
The Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino pet project Grindhouse went mostly unsung, but even its detractors seemed to share a fondness for the faux trailers that hinged the two films. Fan outcry soon led to a full-fledged Machete feature, an over-the-top “Mexplotation” flick starring the always stoic…
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Film Review – Zero Charisma
Zero Charisma seems like a curious choice for Nerdist Industries’ first foray into movie production. Not on the outset, of course. The story of an overgrown nerd with a penchant for pop culture references and a no-bullshit attitude seems right in the wheelhouse. But this…
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TV Review – The Blacklist
What separates an homage from blatant theft? A knowing (if not literal) wink to the camera? A “thank you” credit wedged between key grips and craft services? Maybe a thumbs up from Mr. Jonathan Demme himself would do the trick, but for the time being,…
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