Reviews – Page 21

Transformers 3: The artistic merit of Michael Bay

There’s a string of words you probably never thought to see together.

A few weeks ago I got a sneak peek at twenty minutes of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third entry into Michael Bay’s increasingly loud franchise. At that time, I said that, based on twenty minutes from the climactic “destruction of Chicago” scene, that I thought TF3 would be “big and dumb and loud”. After seeing it over the weekend, it is in fact big and dumb and loud, with an emphasis on dumb. What’s most interesting about TF3, though, isn’t the plot (because there almost isn’t one), or the characters (because they’re little more than cardboard stand-ups of what Bay thinks real people are like), or even the visual effects (because they’re as elaborate and over the top as one expects in a Michael Bay movie). No, what has evolved from TF3 is an interesting discussion about Michael Bay and his status as an auteur.Continue reading “Transformers 3: The artistic merit of Michael Bay”

Movie watching round-up: The Green Lantern, Bad Teacher and Captain America

First, last week I made my first trip to Toronto for the 6^th Annual Smut Soiree with LaineyGossip. Big ups to everyone who came out and stayed to chat afterward. It was a lot of fun and it was great to meet readers of this blog. To address your top concerns for Cinesnark: 1) I wish I posted more, too, but I’m lazy and motivation comes in fits and starts. 2) I also wish I could write shorter posts but I can’t. I try to break it up with pictures. Does that help? 3) I don’t know what to do about your surprise that I am “not like I seem on [my blog] at all”. Real life friends recognize a lot of my opinions, nicknames, phraseology, etc, from normal every-day conversations we have, and a former teacher I hadn’t spoken to in years identified me after reading only one post, so obviously I am somehow failing to translate online to those who don’t know me. I’ll try harder? Unless saying that I “wasn’t what you were expecting” was a nice way of saying, “I expected you to be way bitchier”, in which case, I won’t try any harder? We’ll work on this.Continue reading “Movie watching round-up: The Green Lantern, Bad Teacher and Captain America”

Arthouse Audit: Tree of Life & Cave of Forgotten Dreams

I waited to review Cave of Forgotten Dreams until I could pair it with The Tree of Life. I finally got to Tree of Life over the weekend, so now I can hammer out these two reviews together. First, let’s talk about Terrence Malick’s (The Thin Red Line) long-awaited Tree of Life. After a much-ballyhooed two-year delay in post-production—Malick is a notorious tinkerer who would probably still be editing his first feature film, Badlands (1973) today if left to his own devices. In a forty-year career, Malick has completed five feature films. His sixth just shot last year in Oklahoma and is estimated for a 2012 release, and there are plans for a seventh film to immediately follow. This burst of three films in three years—assuming Malick sticks to the schedule—is the most prolific he’s ever been.Continue reading “Arthouse Audit: Tree of Life & Cave of Forgotten Dreams”

Super 8 is super great

I COULDN’T RESIST.

So Super 8 is a movie that didn’t reveal a ton of information through marketing, and no one involved with the production was saying much at all about it, which left everyone guessing what it would be like. Based on the marketing, it was drawing comparisons to ET, the little bit I could drag out of anyone connected to the film involved Stand By Me, but when I saw it last night, I thought it was most like the 1980’s best movie, The Goonies.Continue reading “Super 8 is super great”

X-Men: First Class – what good actors get you

First, I liveblogged the MTV Movie Awards last night with the ladies from LaineyGossip. You can read the transcript here if you scroll down to “Sunday”. I spent half the night defending Ryan Gosling and Kristen Stewart. Lainey recapped our KStew fight here. I need some support on this as I am alone in my opinion (on LaineyGossip, anyway) that Stewart is hardly a “problem starlet” just because she’s awkward in public. Also, the show was painfully boring and host Jason Sudeikis (SNL, Horrible Bosses) failed to deliver in any significant way. My host-vote for next year: Donald Glover, Mindy Kaling or Danny Pudi. Or Joel McHale? Discuss. My favorite part of the night was a pre-show bit with MTV entertainment guy Joshua Horowitz and James McAvoy. Goddamn that accent is sexy.Continue reading “X-Men: First Class – what good actors get you”

The Boys & Girls Club of Comedy

I heard it often. Always from men. Always said like it was some kind of big compliment.

“You’re funny like a dude.”

“You tell jokes like a man.”

I got this question more than any other, usually from women, often asked in a nervous tone.

“Is there really a difference between men and women’s sense of humor?”

My answer was always the same, delivered without hesitation and with complete confidence.

NO.Continue reading “The Boys & Girls Club of Comedy”

I hated the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie

I love pirates. I love everything about them. I love the inflated, cartoony fantasy life we create for them and I love the harsh unyielding misery of their actual seventeenth-century lives. I love the mystery of lost treasure and ships, and the possibility of finding those ships (is this really the Queen Anne’s Revenge?). I seriously love pirates. So much, it’s not something I often share with others, like the zombie thing. That’s fun and whatever. Pirates are a serious hobby for me (…cripes I need more friends, don’t I?).Continue reading “I hated the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie”