Tag: Shirley MacLaine

REVIEW: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“I always save your knick-knacks” What began as a 1939 short story by James Thurber debuting in The New Yorker, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty found its way to the big screen in 1947 led by Danny Kaye. The tale of a daydreamer losing himself in excitingly heroic fantasies while sleepwalking through a daytrip of chores in the city with his wife expanded into a magazine editor finding more interest in the pulp stories he reads than the drab life he leads. It’s a conceit mirrored today with Mitty…

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REVIEW: Bernie [2012]

Jared Mobarak

“We may have to make a leg adjustment” The unique true story of Carthage, TX assistant mortician Bernie Tiede proves worthy for the big screen. A man too kind, compassionate, and humble for words, he shows how the best of us can still find a bottomless wealth of love stifled to the point of murder. It surely happens more than we’d like to believe, those “he was such a harmless and quiet gentleman” explaining our inability to comprehend our neighbors’ potential for dark deeds. For Tiede, however, those usually empty…

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REVIEW: Valentine’s Day [2010]

Jared Mobarak

“It gives me acid reflux” Tonight’s gold star goes to the duo of Deborah Aquila and Mary Tricia Wood for their deal with the devil to compile a star-studded cast for the blatantly lackluster affair that is Valentine’s Day. I don’t know how they pulled it off—I’m sure the promise of a hefty payday for minimal work helped—but the name recognition on the poster and advertisements alone will go a long way in cementing the film’s number one status at the box office over it’s titular holiday weekend. The actual…

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REVIEW: Terms of Endearment [1983]

Jared Mobarak

“Medium esteem” I’m not quite sure what I think about James L. Brooks’ Terms of Endearment. Here is a film that won best picture at the 1984 Oscars, beating out a favorite of mine, The Big Chill. Everyone I talk to says they love it and here I am feeling a tad lukewarm on the whole spectacle. At first glance, I can’t really comprehend what I saw exactly. Truthfully, the whole thing seems as though it was a device to get us to the end, the one sequence of time…

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REVIEW: Rumor Has It [2005]

Jared Mobarak

“They certainly have” Why Rob Reiner, why? I mean I understand there might not be much good material out there these days, but really. I mean you directed Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, and This is Spinal Tap. What is up with the drivel nowadays, especially with this horrid attempt at cinematic art, Rumor Has It? I actually thought the premise had promise from the trailer—the real story of The Graduate. Intriguing and a decent cast attached, this should at the least be watchable. Unfortunately…

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