Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on April 12th, 2013
The power is in the mind, or at least it is in Trance, the latest psychological thriller from Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle. From the original trailer I saw of this film, I had the wrong impression of this film completely; I was intrigued by the film, but I just expected it to be another heist film. Now, for the record, I love heist films; I love the watching the thieves plan the heist, I love watching them execute the theft, and I even love the eventual double-cross that everyone always sees coming. To call Trance simply a heist film is to severely undersell its value.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 10th, 2013
“Why save a few when we can save them all?”
An excellent question; have you ever noticed that in disaster films as soon as an apocalyptic event is discovered, plans go into motion to protect the elite such as the president, his cabinet, and a few select others while the rest of the world is left out in the cold to be lambs to the slaughter? Well, in Earth’s Final Hours, the lambs fight back, working to save the many rather than just the few.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 3rd, 2013
It is truly amazing the career that Tom Green has had when you really sit back and think about it. Tom has made a career as an oddball whose antics would either make you laugh hysterically or raise a brow with suspicion of his mental state. His personality has taken him to many heights, from a Canadian Public Access show to MTV, MTV to the silver screen, but it wasn’t until he got in front of the camera and documented his battle with testicular cancer that many people would stand up and take notice of Hollywood’s strangest man.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 1st, 2013
Timing is everything in life; being in the right place at the right time could mean great fortune. Of course the other side of that coin is that being in the wrong place at the wrong time could mean great misfortune; want to guess on which side the coin landed in Stand Off? (Hopefully you guessed misfortune; otherwise stop reading now.) Brendan Fraser leads the comedy about a botched robbery which eventually transformed to an even bigger mess. I’ve been a Brendan Fraser fan dating all the way back to Encino Man, and I was especially excited when he achieved action hero status with the The Mummy franchise
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 26th, 2013
I tend to shy away from films that have come out before I was born. It’s not a rule, just a habit. The reason for that being because not being from the generation that movie was produced in, I fear that there will be a lot of cultural reference that I will be unfamiliar with and I will have to Wikipedia them all. I also feel that because I am from a different era I am not qualified to render a sound opinion of an older film, because I may judge it too harshly due to my growing up within a time of special effect advancement.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 26th, 2013
“They cry, they plead, they beg, they piss themselves, they cry for their mothers. It gets embarrassing. I like to kill ‘em softly. From a distance.”
Brad Pitt demonstrates that very well during one of his execution scenes. Killing Them Softly is director Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of the 1974 novel, Cogan’s Trade by George V. Higgnins. This film is Dominik’s third go-around serving as both writer and director (the other two times being Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James), and I must say that he seems at home with double the amount of work.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on March 22nd, 2013
“I'm tired of seeing the same thing. Everybody's so miserable here because they see the same things every day, they wake up in the same bed, same houses, same depressing streetlights, one gas station, grass, it's not even green, and it’s brown. Everything is the same and everyone is just sad. I really don't want to end up like them. I just want to get out of here. There's more than just spring break. This is our chance to see something different.”
Somehow I really doubt that Gomez’s character’s desire for something different was quite like what she got. You remember Spring Break, right?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 20th, 2013
Well, would you look at that: the sidekicks from previous popular primetime series after each of their shows have ended, banded together to form their own television series. Though it is not uncommon for the supporting cast of a TV show to try to break out on their own either right before or right after their former show receives the axe, it is rare that said show makes it through its first season, let alone gets renewed for a second season; the exception being Men At Work (not to be confused with the film by the same name starring the Sheen family, with which it shares no relation as far as I can tell).
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 18th, 2013
I remember the exact moment I learned about this film. I was at the movies; it was the first trailer on the film, and I immediately felt my intrigue build. The trailer didn’t give much away; at the time it felt like a disassembled puzzle joined together by multiple voiceovers, and then the question that tied it altogether was asked: “When was the last time you saw Bin Laden?” After that everything became clear, and I had my first inkling of how important this film was going to be. Once I learned that Kathryn Bigelow would be in the driver seat, I was certain of the film’s importance.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 13th, 2013
I believe a title change is in order for this movie. For starters, it’s generic and has no appeal; a title should grab you, entice you, and intrigue you. 24 Hour Love does none of that; I understand the title, supposedly time-lining and emphasizing how a single day can alter or destroy the love that exists between two individuals, but after watching the movie, the premise and the title appear to be contradictory. Better titles would have been Love Trials, Unconditional, or my favorite, Commitment.
