Eric's Blog June 14, 2013
Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider #165: 'Man of Steel,' 'This Is the End,' more
[This week on Movie B.S., we have guests! They are fun. We're fun, too.]
Movie Review:
"Man of Steel"
B- June 14, 2013
Superman reborn (again), more serious
We've always known in the back of our minds that there was a science-fiction angle to the Superman saga -- he's an extra-terrestrial, after all -- but none of the big-screen versions have emphasized it. Until now. "Man of Steel" starts with a rousing action sequence on the doomed planet Krypton, giving us a detailed view of Kryptonian technology and animal life, and then delivers a plot driven by "world engines," alien invasions, singularities, terraforming, and the basic questions about what it means to be human.
Movie Review:
"Call Me Kuchu (documentary)"
B+ June 14, 2013
Death to all gays? Uganda be kidding me
There hasn't been a lot of good P.R. for Uganda in the last few years, what with its parliament's proposed legislation that would make homosexual activity punishable by death. "Call Me Kuchu," a powerful documentary by first-time filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, doesn't cast the country's anti-gay movement in a favorable light at all -- which is to say, it depicts the anti-gay movement fairly and accurately -- but it finds inspiration in the brave efforts of Uganda's small community of gay activists.
Movie Review:
"Much Ado About Nothing"
B June 13, 2013
The Bard of Avon meets the Bard of Buffy
Twenty years have passed since Kenneth Branaugh's definitive and very traditional version of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," so it's high time some other well-read merrymaker came along with a shiny new one. Joss Whedon, the TV geek-wizard behind "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly" who leapt into the filmmaking big-time with last year's "The Avengers," proves to be just the man for the job. His adaptation of the Bard's prototypical romantic comedy doesn't discover any new layers of meaning or interpret the material differently from other productions -- nor does it need to. It's a sublimely jolly presentation of a delightful play.
Movie Review:
"This Is the End"
B June 12, 2013
Everybody get stoned for the Apocalypse
"This Is the End" is a bawdy, marijuana-scented inside joke about the Apocalypse happening during James Franco's star-studded house party, with Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera, and others playing themselves. If you don't recognize those names, or if you haven't seen the bawdy, marijuana-scented comedies they've made (often directed or produced by Judd Apatow), then the effects of "This Is the End" will be muted for you. Much of the humor stems from the actors' exaggerated versions of their public personas (except for Cera, who decided to go the complete opposite direction and play a coke-snorting ladykiller), and from our knowledge that these guys have all worked together before in various combinations and presumably have ongoing friendships.
Snide Remarks: "Supermania!" June 12, 2013
A refresher course on the Man of Steel
This week the motion-picture emporiums will unspool a new Superman film, "Man of Steel," that will reboot the franchise for the first time in well over a year. Henry Cavill is the latest actor to play the colorfully dressed bachelor, following in the rubber bootsteps of Christopher Reeve, George Reeves, Brandon Routh Reeviest, and Reeves Reeverton. Lois Lane is Amy Adams, and the villain is high expectations.
Eric's Blog June 7, 2013
Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider #164: 'The Purge,' 'The Internship,' and more
[This is the weekly movie podcast that I co-host with "Jeff Bayer" (not a real person). "We" hope that you find the listening experience satisfactory.]
Movie Review:
"The Purge"
B- June 7, 2013
Legalized murder means lots of murder
Some movies have good premises that get squandered in the execution, but "The Purge" is the other way around. It takes a bad premise and makes it work, more or less. You won't believe that any part of it is even remotely plausible, but you'll go along with it enough to get a few thrills.
Movie Review:
"The Kings of Summer"
B June 4, 2013
Kids in the woods in the summertime
Someone desiring a nostalgic double feature about what it's like to be a common American boy on the cusp of adolescence could hardly do better than "Mud" and "The Kings of Summer," both now in theaters and begging to help you spend a languid afternoon reliving your youth. "Mud," with the outstanding young Tye Sheridan as an Arkansas kid who befriends Matthew McConaughey's enigmatic drifter, may be the better film -- it's richer, more polished, more thematically complex -- but "The Kings of Summer" deserves recognition for its light, often hilarious depiction of summertime boyhood and the impatience to become an adult.
Eric's Blog May 31, 2013
Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider #163: 'After Earth,' 'Now You See Me,' more
[Jeff Bayer and I have done 163 episodes of our weekly movie podcast now, and so far just listening to the show hasn't hurt anyone directly. Maybe it won't hurt you either!]
Movie Reviews
The last 60 days:
-
After Earth
C
-
At Any Price
B+
-
Call Me Kuchu (documentary)
B+
-
Frances Ha
A-
-
Furious 6
C
-
The Great Gatsby
C
-
The Hangover Part III
D+
-
The Iceman
C-
-
Iron Man 3
B+
-
The Kings of Summer
B
-
Man of Steel
B-
-
Much Ado About Nothing
B
-
Mud
B+
-
Now You See Me
C
-
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
B
-
Pain & Gain
C
-
The Purge
B-
-
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
B-
-
Star Trek Into Darkness
B-
-
Stories We Tell (documentary)
B+
-
This Is the End
B
