Film Reviews | www.jaredmobarak.com

REVIEW: Jack Reacher [2012]

2012/12/132014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“Weird to meet you” It appears it was only a matter of time before author Lee Child—or Jim Grant to his parents—saw the sole protagonist of his life’s work on the big screen. Jack Reacher is the type of character audiences adore; one easily catered towards the sequel model paved by Tom Clancy‘s Jack Ryan if and when Tom Cruise finally gives up action flicks. An ex-Army Military Police Major who spent his childhood abroad before a stint at West Point led to thirteen years in the service, he now…

REVIEW: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012]

2012/12/112014/12/11 Jared Mobarak

“Home is now behind you” It’s hard to return to Middle Earth without thinking about Randal Graves from Clerks II and his defense of Star Wars possessing as its cornerstone the fact Peter Jackson‘s film version of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy was all a bunch of people walking. He’s not wrong. What the generalization misses, however, is just how integral the gorgeous landscapes of New Zealand play in creating this fantastical world. We accept the long treks across mountains and through trees because it breathes life into…

REVIEW: Ruby Sparks [2012]

2012/12/102014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“I will never write about her again” The debut screenplay from actress Zoe Kazan includes moments ringing absolutely true and others completely false. I can’t stop thinking about Harry Weir-Fields (Chris Messina) giving his brother Calvin (Paul Dano)—the film’s lead—notes on his new, very rough manuscript. Asking without a shred of patronization who the target reader is, he doesn’t believe the women inclined to read romances will care about a quirky, damaged girl with little going for her besides being the object of a man’s affections. It’s obvious to Harry…

REVIEW: Cosmopolis [2012]

2012/12/052014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“My prostate is asymmetrical” Thematically more like what David Cronenberg created before his last three films; I’m not quite sure what to think about Cosmopolis. Faithfully adapted from a novel by Don DeLillo, its look inside the day of billionaire magnate Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) skews closest to the hellish descents behind the director’s eXistenZ and seminal work Videodrome through a filter of smugness a la Bret Easton Ellis‘ American Psycho. The characters speak in pronouns with a universal aloofness that makes their world appear a coldly detached fabrication of…

REVIEW: Sound of My Voice [2012]

2012/12/032015/05/29 Jared Mobarak

“Why do I like being lame?” There is a new, legitimate voice in science fiction and her name is Brit Marling. A steadily rising actress seen in a collection of intellectually stimulating independent films the past two years, her writing talents have surprisingly proven to be an even greater asset. In fact, it’s fascinating to learn her breakthrough movies—as co-writer and star—debuted together at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Another Earth turned public heads first only a few months later, but I believe it’s her work on Sound of My…

REVIEW: Life of Pi [2012]

2012/12/012014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“Nice try, ‘Pissing’” **Contains spoilers** I’d love to say Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi is a masterpiece showing me the existence of God like how its titular character’s uncle explains it might to a writer seeking the subject for his new book, but I can’t. The reason, however, says more about myself than the film. Yann Martel‘s novel has been gorgeously brought to life by one of the greatest directors working today and its visual splendor cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, what makes or breaks its success isn’t its beauty, performances,…

REVIEW: Killing Them Softly [2012]

2012/11/302014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“America’s not a country. It’s just a business.” Now I know why writer/director Andrew Dominik changed his film’s name to Killing Me Softly. It’s not because star Brad Pitt uses the phrase to describe his preferred method of murder; that just supplied the words. I’d like to believe he did so because he knew how different a beast it was from the novel by George V. Higgins on which it’s based, Cogan’s Trade. Written in 1974, the book obviously couldn’t have had our recent global recession in mind let alone…

REVIEW: Shut Up and Play the Hits [2012]

2012/11/272014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“If I can see all my friends tonight” The end of LCD Soundsystem was a seminal moment in rock and roll music history. I’m not even a fan of the band and I know this to be true. Frontman James Murphy created something that spoke to the college crowd with a mix of electronic dance beats and wittily poignant lyrics on his way to becoming a rock God/philosopher. And then he decided to call it quits after a decade. Stopping on his own terms to continue the life he led…

REVIEW: Compliance [2012]

2012/11/262014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“Let’s just get this over with” Films like Craig Zobel‘s Compliance make you question humanity. It’s easy to say, “How could so many people be so stupid?” but at the same time hard not to view those duped into becoming predators as victims too. What happened to Louise Ogborn on April 9, 2004 in a Kentucky McDonald’s is the tragic culmination of our American culture gradually dismantling its desire to possess a voice. Gone are the days of innocent until proven guilty when a universal trend towards self-preservation usurps the…

REVIEW: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 [2012]

2012/11/242014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“Should I start calling you Dad?” **contains spoilers as far as its major difference from the book** I’m going to applaud The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 for two reasons. One, it signals what we can hope and pray will be the last adventure inside Stephenie Meyer‘s angst-ridden, melodramatic world of supernaturals—until the planned off-shoots/reboots being bandied about, of course. Two, it rather unsurprisingly proves to be the best of the series after three bloated, over-wrought filler films ruined the tiny bit of promise the original Twilight provided. But…

REVIEW: Белый тигр [White Tiger] [2012]

2012/11/232014/04/08 Jared Mobarak

“Even I’m not old enough to know what happened” It’s a unique treat any time a film depicting World War II doesn’t center on the Holocaust or American forces storming the beaches of Normandy. Honestly, these are the two subjects we in the United States learn during our public school education because we frankly don’t need more detail unless delving deeper into the war becomes our dissertation in college. So the fact Karen Shakhnazarov‘s Белый тигр [White Tiger] concerns Western Europe’s Great Patriotic War between Russia and Germany makes it…