“Something in those dazzling eyes” Not until a few hours before checking out a screening of Rob Reiner’s new film Flipped did I know it was based on an award-winning young adult novel by celebrated author Wendelin Van Draanen. The title has double meaning with both the idea of ‘flipping’ over someone the way young lovers tend to do and the structural format of alternating between the complicated duo at its center, Juli Baker and Bryce Loski. Reiner, never subtle, transitions each segment with a top to bottom flip of…
Read MoreMonth: August 2010
REVIEW: The Expendables [2010]
“I woulda win” When a summer movie season can be described as disappointing and have it be an understatement, nothing says popcorn blockbuster better than a big budget action flick. 2010 never quite had anything to fit the bill, but that wasn’t going to stop Sylvester Stallone from attempting to bring the masses something close. The hype has been huge as Sly compiled a who’s who cast of action stars (relevant and not), fringe athletes, and badass character folk like Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke to literally blow up anything…
Read MoreDESIGN: The Western New York Performing Arts Guide 2010
2010 The Western New York Performing Arts Guide 2010, published by Buffalo Spree Publishing, Inc. Front Cover: Using the abstract concept of a Buffalo waterfront representation (idea from Art Director Chastity Taber) and basing graphics from the vector artwork of Josh Flanigan, I minimalized the crucial buildings needed for the image to read Buffalo/WNY, and played with their transparency along with added layers of spotlights, all while utilizing bright, vibrant colors to catch the eye. Inside Layout: Building off of 2009’s design, I kept the three column format, reduced the…
Read MoreREVIEW: Nanny McPhee [2005]
“I did knock” Based on the children’s stories of Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand, the British film Nanny McPhee tries its best to grab hold of the magic ever-present in Disney’s Mary Poppins. Liberties are taken—the number of children is changed and the mother, alive in the novels, has passed on in the film—by Oscar-winning screenwriter Emma Thompson in order to make matters as dire as possible, the need for Nanny McPhee immeasurable. So, after a seventeenth nanny is sent screaming from the Brown mansion, “They ate the baby!!”, Colin…
Read MoreREVIEW: Rope [2010]
“Rope, Suit, Park, Hang” The beauty of short films from the comfort of your home is the ability to rewatch them with ease. While I’d love to see everything in the confines of a darkened theatre, the image blown up to an overwhelming size so that the cinematography can engulf you, the under ten minute family of cinema doesn’t necessarily lend itself well to those conditions. With so little time to tell its story, the short film must pack in detail upon detail, each frame meticulously composed to show the…
Read MoreREVIEW: Eat Pray Love [2010]
“Learn to believe in love again” The title says it all—Eat Pray Love—a mantra being adopted by women across the globe. I can understand the memoir’s appeal, in a want and desire to achieve an idyllic life and the balance/calm/forgiveness needed to find it, but Elizabeth Gilbert’s tale is a very personal journey. This isn’t some self-help book on scorched earth policy as it pertains to relationships, starting anew and discovering a love for one’s self and the perfect companion only a lifetime of struggle can uncover. It is an…
Read MoreREVIEW: The Kids Are All Right [2010]
“And then, ya know, my tongue started working again …” You can call writer/director Lisa Cholodenko’s new movie The Kids Are All Right a look into the world of a lesbian-raised family and you’d be correct. But it is so much more than just an exercise on showing the expansive definition of ‘nuclear family’. All the hardships, joys, struggles, and successes of marriage, raising kids, and loving those around you are included. The fact this family has two matriarchs only allows for the plot point of introducing the sperm donor…
Read MoreREVIEW: The Other Guys [2010]
“Aim for the bushes” My loathsome attitude to ‘full-blown’ Will Ferrell is common knowledge with those who have been reading my reviews the past few years. He just has a knack to go too far and regress into a large, blithering child. It used to work with small supporting roles or comic relief parts such as in Old School, but once the American public grabbed hold, the joke wore thin when needing to sustain itself for a two-hour duration. But then something happened a couple years ago with Step Brothers.…
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