Posted by Jared Mobarak on January 7, 2019 · Leave a Comment
“It’s today or never” Not all live-action/animated hybrids from Disney of yesteryear live up to the nostalgic memories of youth (I’m looking at you Pete’s Dragon), but Mary Poppins is an exception. Maybe it was revisiting it after seeing the underrated Saving Mr. Banks for added context concerning craft and motivation or maybe it’s simply […]
Category comedy, family, fantasy, film reviews · Tags Angela Lansbury, Ben Whishaw, Colin Firth, Dick Van Dyke, Emily Blunt, Emily Mortimer, Joel Dawson, Julie Walters, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Marc Shaiman, Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Returns, Meryl Streep, Nathanael Saleh, P.L. Travers, Pixie Davies, Rob Marshall
Posted by Jared Mobarak on November 16, 2018 · Leave a Comment
“I’m friendly” We don’t ever discover why or when high school sweethearts Ruth Duffy (Rachel Keller) and Jonny Collins (Finn Wittrock) broke up during the course of Stacy Cochran‘s Write When You Get Work. All we know are certain circumstances and thus are left to assume the rest. Maybe they tried making things work after […]
Category comedy, drama, film reviews, romance · Tags Afton Williamson, Andrew Schulz, Emily Mortimer, Finn Wittrock, James Ransone, Rachel Keller, Robert Elswit, Scott Cohen, Stacy Cochran, Write When You Get Work
Posted by Jared Mobarak on August 19, 2018 · Leave a Comment
“Where there’s life, there’s hope” Looks are deceiving with Isabel Coixet‘s The Bookshop, an adaptation of Penelope Fitzgerald‘s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel from 1978. What appears to be a run-of-the-mill drama that will surely fall into the usual clichés of perseverance and eventual victory about a woman standing up to a small town of bullies that […]
Posted by Jared Mobarak on March 7, 2018 · Leave a Comment
“Another announcement. Good God.” I admire what Sally Potter is trying to do with her black comedy The Party as experiment. She’s placed a group of friends with different political, economic, and romantic views into a single room, hanging a secret(s) over their heads with the potential to destroy their individual and communal identities. They’re […]
Category comedy, drama, film reviews · Tags Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Cillian Murphy, Emily Mortimer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson, Sally Potter, The Party, Timothy Spall
Posted by Jared Mobarak on March 27, 2013 · Leave a Comment
“Don’t bore me by being ordinary” The saying goes as follows: “behind every great man stands a great woman”. No words are truer said for renowned sculptor/designer Isamu Noguchi if Hisako Matsui‘s film Leonie is any indication towards a mother’s stewardship into a life providing the freedom necessary to achieve one’s dreams. Written by the […]
Category biography, drama, film reviews · Tags Christina Hendricks, David Wiener, Emily Mortimer, Hisako Matsui, Jan Milligan, Kelly Vitz, Leonie, Mary Kay Place, Masayo Duus, Shidô Nakamura, The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey Without Borders
Posted by Jared Mobarak on November 21, 2011 · Leave a Comment
“Where are your designated adults?” When Hugo was announced as Martin Scorsese’s next film, little was mentioned about Brian Selznick’s Caldecott Medal-winning source material, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The big news was the auteur relishing an opportunity to helm his first family film and willingly delve into the world of 3D—a medium seen mostly […]
Category action/adventure, drama, family, film reviews · Tags Asa Butterfield, Auguste Lumière, Avatar, Ben Kingsley, Brian Selznick, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer, Frances de la Tour, Georges Méliès, Helen McCrory, Hugo, John Logan, Jude Law, L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat, Le Voyage dans la Lune, Louis Lumière, Martin Scorsese, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ray Winstone, Richard Griffiths, Sacha Baron Cohen
Posted by Jared Mobarak on July 2, 2011 · Leave a Comment
“I vant to siphon your gas” Being that I was not in what appeared to be a vast majority of people who thought Cars was ‘lesser’ Pixar, I can’t say I was too surprised to find I was on the outside of the even bigger group of critics who trashed Cars 2 as a sequel […]
Category animation, comedy, family, film reviews · Tags Bruce Campbell, Cars, Cars 2, Eddie Izzard, Emily Mortimer, How to Train Your Dragon, James Taylor, Joe Mantegna, John Lasseter, John Turturro, Kung Fu Panda, Larry the Cable Guy, Madagascar, Michael Caine, Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Peter Jacobson, Shrek, Thomas Kretschmann, Tony Shalhoub, Up
Posted by Jared Mobarak on June 12, 2010 · 2 Comments
“You should of called an ambulance for the girl” When you have nothing to lose, how far are you willing to go for a vengeance ignored by the police? Harry Brown delves into this vigilantism, depicting a pensioner in England and his inability to hide in the shadows mourning anymore. After having his wife, daughter, […]
Category drama, film reviews, suspense/thriller · Tags Ben Drew, Daniel Barber, Emily Mortimer, Gary Young, Harry Brown, Jack O’Connell, Martin Ruhe, Michael Caine, Sean Harris
Posted by Jared Mobarak on February 17, 2010 · Leave a Comment
“Retreat isn’t something you consider an option” Very rarely does a film meet, let alone exceed, the expectations of the piece of literature it is based upon. With a director like Martin Scorsese, however, you do hold out hope that it will at least come close. But with postponements from the Oscar wheelhouse of a […]
Category film reviews, horror, suspense/thriller · Tags Ben Kingsley, Darren Aronofsky, Dennis Lehane, Elias Koteas, Emily Mortimer, Gone Baby Gone, Jackie Earle Haley, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Martin Scorsese, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Mystic River, Patricia Clarkson, Requiem for a Dream, Shutter Island, Stanley Kubrick, The Shining
Posted by Jared Mobarak on February 3, 2009 · 1 Comment
“An odd, sexy brother in a dress” Hmmm. Does America really hate itself this much? I guess it does. I’ll start off by saying how I’m not much of a fan of Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther let alone watching Steve Martin laugh himself to the bank with a couple of remakes, (I did not see […]
Category comedy, film reviews · Tags Aishwarya Rai, Alfred Molina, Andy Garcia, Emily Mortimer, Jean Reno, Jeremy Irons, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Peter Sellers, Steve Martin, The Office, The Pink Panther, The Pink Panther 2, Yuki Matsuzaki
Posted by Jared Mobarak on May 9, 2008 · Leave a Comment
“There’s always an escape” David Mamet is back with his new film Redbelt. After four years away from Hollywood, producing the television show “The Unit,” Mamet has followed up his solid thriller Spartan with a drama of intelligence that only he can capture. Complete with the trademark, metered language—every word timed and delivered with precision—this […]
Category drama, film reviews, sports · Tags Alice Braga, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Paymer, Emily Mortimer, Max Martini, Rebecca Pidgeon, Redbelt, Ricky Jay, Spartan, The Unit, Tim Allen
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