Month: December 2011 | www.jaredmobarak.com

REVIEW: The Help [2011]

2011/12/222014/05/19 Jared Mobarak

“God don’t pay no mind to color when he decide to set a tornado loose” I guess it’s my own fault for not paying attention to the advertisements, but I really thought The Help was based on a true story. The author was Emma Stone‘s Skeeter Phelan and the stories told were authentic orations of the maids in her Jackson, Mississippi community. Those trailers had ‘inspired by a true events’ somewhere, right? Or is the fact the film occurs during an historical event like the Civil Rights movement real life…

REVIEW: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 [2011]

2011/12/202014/05/21 Jared Mobarak

“Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies” Here’s a pitch for a new Trojan Condoms’ advertising campaign tie-in to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1: Even Vampires Need Protection. Yes, the entire film could have been struck from the record if only Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) was a responsible hundreds-year old creeper when de-flowering his literally blushing bride. A complete waste of time with its first half being all about an eighteen-year old high school graduate losing her virginity on her wedding night—I guess it’s a good example these…

REVIEW: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [2011]

2011/12/192014/05/21 Jared Mobarak

“It’s how we’re taught about strangers” If Stieg Larsson had lived long enough to see his The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo become an international sensation worthy of two cinematic adaptations in less than two years, I wonder which he would have approved of more. It’s easy to disregard David Fincher‘s remake as nothing more than an Americanized version of a top-notch mystery thriller already wowing audiences across the globe and much harder to praise it alongside its predecessor. While I’ll admit to finding the telepathic translation device turning everything…

REVIEW: The Adventures of Tintin [2011]

2011/12/172014/05/21 Jared Mobarak

“Only a true Haddock will discover the secret of the Unicorn” Considering I started conjuring images of an Indian sidekick named Hadji when first made aware of news Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson were directing a The Adventures of Tintin trilogy, my knowledge and therefore enthusiasm in the project was somewhat lacking. Once I put my head straight, removed any “Johnny Quest” infusions, and feasted on what looked like a gorgeous animated motion capture world, my interest piqued more. It wasn’t until watching the silhouetted credit sequence—recalling Spielberg’s Catch Me…

DESIGN: Habibi Sheesha Lounge

2011/12/172012/07/28 Jared Mobarak

A new hookah lounge has opened in Niagara Falls, NY called Habibi Sheesha Lounge. Serving over 70 different flavors of sheesha, the lounge also provides a menu with a variety of beverages—soda, smoothies, shakes, etc—and a mix of American and Middle Eastern snacks/desserts. Asked to create a logo, menu, and business card, the first step was figuring out what to do for iconography. Playing around with different Arabic motifs, the Egyptian flag colors, and the idea of a hookah, my first designs went in the direction of elegant patterns and…

Top 100 Songs of 2011

2011/12/162012/12/11 Jared Mobarak

(short and sweet and to the point; culled from listening to 501 releases—at time of publishing—from 2011. ask me tomorrow and the list will probably be drastically different, but you have to lock ’em in sometime.) #100: Dolly by Fruit Bats — #99: Take the World by She Wants Revenge — #98: Postcards by The Sorry Kisses listen here — #97: The Day by Moby — #96: Piledriver Waltz by Arctic Monkeys — #95: Kids by The Features — #94: Say No by The Feeling — #93: Ohio by HoneyHoney…

REVIEW: Martha Marcy May Marlene [2011]

2011/12/152014/05/21 Jared Mobarak

“Death is pure love” Lost and alone, Martha never knew what love was. Her parents gone at a young age, her sister away in college, living with a chimney for an aunt who to this day she says hated her—loneliness always prevailed whether people were around or not. So it’s no surprise she would be lured in by the kindness, compassion, and gentle voices of a commune living off the beaten path. A community of strays reborn into a life with purpose, she would find her place and never feel…

REVIEW: War Horse [2011]

2011/12/142014/05/21 Jared Mobarak

“There are big days and there are small days” Thirteen years since Saving Private Ryan and six since his last ‘serious’ work in Munich, Steven Spielberg pulls out all the stops for his newest WWI epic War Horse. Based on the 1982 children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo that was recently adapted into a Tony Award-winning stage play earlier this year, the title deceives as far as explaining the true subject of the work. While we follow Joey the horse from birth to the savage conditions of the Great War, he…

REVIEW: Young Adult [2011]

2011/12/132014/05/21 Jared Mobarak

“Mad Love, Buddy” And the award for movie with the worst message for young adults is Young Adult. Bravo Diablo Cody for what appears to be a cathartic foray into justifying arrogance, shallowness, and alcoholism as signs of great artistic talent rather than portraying them as glaring issues needing work, help, and maturity. Kudos for hiding a dark cesspool of angry depressive horrors beneath the sheen of a light-hearted coming home to romance the now married ex-boyfriend comedy and for allowing horrible monsters to become more horrible. Thanks for at…

REVIEW: Margin Call [2011]

2011/12/122014/05/21 Jared Mobarak

“It’s a long way down” When most people think about Wall Street movies they usually conjure images of the financial center’s eponymous Oliver Stone flick or something like Boiler Room showing the fast life and high rewards achieved by twenty-somethings pushing numbers around a computer screen. We think glamorous lifestyles and the stench of arrogance as money-hungry men in suits fleece the common man to make a percentage off their nest egg’s devastating losses. It’s high stakes poker on a grand scale relying on men with ulterior motives to give…

Top 100 Albums of 2011

2011/12/092012/12/13 Jared Mobarak