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REVIEW: Tusk [2014]

2014/09/152014/09/19 Jared Mobarak

“I believe we’re all tea people” I want to dismiss Kevin Smith‘s second foray into horror as total bullshit. I really do. Not only was Tusk created on a lark because one of his and Scott Mosier‘s internet Smodcasts recorded them discussing a crazy Gumtree ad offering a room for rent if the lodger agreed to wear a walrus suit, but because the “ad” in question was itself a fictitious prank by poet Chris Parkinson. Smith’s listeners voted to have a film made out of the restructured, warped version of…

REVIEW: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug [2013]

2013/12/102014/12/11 Jared Mobarak

“I could have anything down my trousers” There is a certain charm to the middle section of a book where characters met start to come into their own before the big climax. It’s a crucial section, one its bookends need to truly succeed. However, when a single work of fiction is stretched and divided into three acts, this portion will inevitably prove anticlimactic when isolated from the rest. Peter Jackson and company are sadly not immune to this truth while attempting to model J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Hobbit after his Lord…

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: Zack and Miri Make a Porno [2008]

2008/10/082011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“This ain’t Amistad” Kevin Smith has attempted to break free from the viewaskewniverse once more with his new comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno. We all remember his first try, the underrated Jersey Girl that died before it even had a chance due to the Jennifer Lopez/Ben Affleck debacle, that culminated in him going back to the well for the amazing sequel Clerks II. With the new film, Smith has mixed the sentimentality of Jersey Girl with the vulgarity of his other movies, creating a hybrid that brings some…

Top 25 Films of 2006

2007/01/252020/03/31 Jared Mobarak

(short and sweet and to the point; culled from watching 88 releases. constantly updated as i catch up to those i missed. click poster for review if applicable) #25: Déjà Vu directed by Tony Scott. #24: Lady in the Water directed byM. Night Shyamalan #23: Casino Royale directed by Martin Campbell. #22: Stranger Than Fiction directed by Marc Forster #21: The Science of Sleep directed by Michel Gondry #20: Half Nelson directed by Ryan Fleck #19: Clerks 2 directed by Kevin Smith #18: The Last King of Scotland directed by…

Top Ten Films of 2006

2007/01/112020/03/31 Jared Mobarak

The day has come where all that movie watching during the year, all that money given to Hollywood players who need none of it, and all those buttered popcorn induced coronaries boil down to one person’s ego-trip of compiling a list of the best of the best. I now join the list of film-snobs everywhere with my top ten films of 2006. If you have been reading my reviews you will know that I don’t care too much about how the film was made, but instead how much I enjoyed…

REVIEW: Clerks II [2006]

2006/07/212018/05/20 Jared Mobarak

“The Passion of the Clerks” Who would have thought twelve years ago that the small indie film Clerks would be a success, considered a classic, and eventually spawn a sequel? I don’t think even writer/director Kevin Smith would have thought he’d be working in Hollywood let alone having all that occur. Alas, it did. While a movie that I love, I have to say there were many reservations going into the announcement of a follow-up to Smith’s debut feature. It was a View Askew film, however, and it was going…