Posts by Archive Authors

by Dustin P. Anderson

At the end of a long sentence, a notorious inmate, Viktor Khadem, is sent to a minimum-security prison where he works until he can be rehabilitated to join society. His handler, Matt Perry, sees a certain skill for taking care of birds within Viktor, and decides to start a new program for rehabilitating inmates. He puts Viktor in charge of two other prisoners tasked with caring for the injured birds of prey until they are well enough to fly, and hunt on their own. The guards and warden of the jail believe the program is dangerous and will only invite more trouble.

I don't enjoy writing negative reviews. It's a struggle when the film experience was joyless and then to have to go back and relive that. I also don't enjoy reading reviews by other critics that get everything completely wrong. It's even worse when almost all the critics get it wrong. Even worse than that is when I see critics dumping on a film that's actually good, but that's a story for a different day. How can I say Spy is so bad? Because I had to sit through the movie. I can get some enjoyment out of even the worst movies, and that's true here, but I would not recommend it to unsuspecting viewers.

by Dustin P. Anderson

Our story follows Sara, a woman who was blinded due to an encounter with a suicide bomber during a tour with the army as a photo journalist. We meet her after she has been blind for three years, and she has met a rich man who has seemingly gained his wealth through investments. After going out for champagne, she comes home to find her boyfriend killed and a man waiting for her with a knife. When the man’s partner comes, it is revealed that her boyfriend made his wealth as a thief and has stolen something precious from the two men who are holding Sara hostage: diamonds.

The town of McFarland, California is North of Los Angeles and South of San Jose. More specifically, it is near Bakersfield and not too far south of Fresno. San Diego is practically spitting distance from Tijuana. I say this because much of California is alien to me. The movie McFarland, USA is about delving into the realities of California. Forget that this is a feel-good sports movie for a minute. This is a movie about the Latino experience from a true story about a coach from 1987, but the film updates some of the changes that have taken place since then.

by Dustin P. Anderson

I have never been more confused as to what constitutes a spoiler in a movie. I am going to attempt to give the best synopsis I can here, but just know, I was extremely confused throughout this entire movie. We follow two movie studio workers as they watch one of the movies their studio is set to release. The two add dialog (a la Mystery Science Theater 3000) to the film, and we follow their story as well. I was supremely disappointed when I started watching this movie. There was nothing that led me to believe that this movie was going to be a comedy; I would assume that this “surprise” was the intention of the makers, but it ultimately left me confused throughout the entire movie.

The film Mobilize (previously titled Disconnect) is about the potential dangers of cell phones. People have joked about it for years. The AMC series Better Call Saul had a major plot device about a character's aversion to any electronic radiation. The character wound up wearing thermal blankets, not going outside, deactivating electricity in the home, and having all electronic units being stored in an outside mailbox. The show never really explained the source of the character's problem, but it seemed to imply that it was a mental phobia.

Most of us are used to seeing Hollywood movies. That often bleeds over to British and Australian films, but not everyone wants to see films with subtitles. Still, many foreign films have become popular from France, Spain, Japan, Italy, China, India, Denmark, South Africa and Mexico. Obviously almost every country in the world produces films, but most of us never see them. The sheer abundance of films produced in any given year is mind-boggling. Who sees them all? To some degree, films from one part of the world are mostly watched by people from the same place. Turkish films are mostly watched by Turks. 

by Dustin P. Anderson

The death of the youngest brother in the Burwood family brings together all members in an attempt to see that their brother is laid to rest... OK, here’s the thing. I could tell you all the synopsis as a lead up to this movie review, but I am pretty sure that everyone reading this has seen a movie with a similar synopsis. This movie is basically Sweet Home Alabama, This is Where I Leave You, The Royal Tenenbaums, or many others. It’s been done dozens of times over, and I think what we all really want to know is if this movie differed from the other movies at all.

"Meet the Robertson clan. They turned duck calls into a multi-million dollar empire.  But running a family business is tough when the family just wants to run wild." 

The Robertson family is quickly becoming the most recognizable family on TV, considering they are flooding the stores with their books, DVD’s, and many other products you can find at Wal-Mart.  I can’t help but think this is a family that is doing everything right, and good for them for the success they’ve managed. Seeing a positive reality show is refreshing, and the fact that it’s not filled with backstabbing and manipulation just allows it to stand out from everything else.

We all love underdogs. Even if we think we're the greatest thing since chipped beef on toast, secretly we think we're the underdog.  No matter how great our life is, we don't think it's good enough, and everyone's out to get us. Pitch Perfect was a movie about underdogs, and it was an underdog itself. It was a movie about women, nerds and dorks. Just in case you think I'm being insulting, I actually think all three of those things are great, but they are not always given the respect they deserve. The first movie was thrown out in the marketplace with the expectation that it would starve and die.