Parenthood | www.jaredmobarak.com

REVIEW: Heritage [2015]

2015/02/192015/03/21 Jared Mobarak

“Easy thing to bring someone into this wild world” Writer/director Damien Kazan is really honing his visual style these last couple of years with a string of gorgeous looking short films able to mesmerize with the sound off. Not that you should turn it off, his narration arrives with the type of resonating philosophizing we often need to hear in order to kick ourselves in the butt and move forward out of the depressive wastelands of our insecure minds. Scores by Jacob Cadmus don’t hurt either with their sweeping crescendos…

REVIEW: Plain Clothes [2015]

2015/02/13 Jared Mobarak

“And God left it to them to choose darkness or light” Actor Sam Jaeger played the most calm and collected character of the bunch on “Parenthood”. Introduced as a stay-at-home dad with a smile, he had a way of internalizing his feelings so every emotion coursing through him was seen behind actions trying hard not to reveal them. As the show progressed Jaeger’s Joel found himself thrust into situations where the psychological trauma of bottling everything risked becoming his undoing. He couldn’t cope with what was happening so he retreated…

REVIEW: Fruitvale Station [2013]

2013/08/012014/04/10 Jared Mobarak

“Undefeated! 100-0.” If even half of what first time writer/director Ryan Coogler depicts happened on Oscar Grant III’s (Michael B. Jordan) last day is true, you better not be leaving the theatre without red eyes and dried tears. We love to depict fate and destiny as the things which bring us towards true love and happiness, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes we’re destined for tragedy no matter what we do; sometimes a series of coincidences and events simply occur with no rhyme or reason besides putting us into…

REVIEW: Take Me Home [2012]

2012/03/022014/05/15 Jared Mobarak

“I actually really like the paint in the bedroom” A road movie that surprisingly doesn’t fall prey to the easy tropes of its brethren, Take Me Home uses the American landscape as a backdrop to its journey through the tumultuous expanse of two lost souls. States fly by in seconds without a mention, just glimpses outside the windows of the illegally operated taxicab taking our leads from New York City to Encinitas, California. Where most would bask in the ability to montage famous sites, writer/director/star Sam Jaeger only sprinkles in…

REVIEW: Arachnophobia [1990]

2007/08/042011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“Wanna blow-up a bullfrog?” While never reaching any further than its aspirations to be a guilty pleasure, Arachnophobia definitely does its job well and successfully. Here we have a tale of a spider infestation in a small town, where a single bite causes almost instantaneous death. It is up to the town’s new doctor to make everyone see that there is a problem that needs fixing. Like most small towns, the people don’t necessarily embrace change and they don’t want the doctor to sanction autopsies to find out the true…