Movie Review: The Social Network

From an early age, we are conditioned to believe that the impression we make on others is perhaps the most significant thing we have to offer. It’s a mentality that drives us to aggrandize our own esteem and to diminish those we see less fit. Ultimately, life is a competition, and we are mammals of [...]

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2010: Through the Looking Glass

THE PAST With the start of another semester approaching, I feel I should take a second to contemplate the year thus far. In short, I believe it’s been a cinematic drought. The past eight months have provided us with only a handful of noteworthy films. Otherwise, the lot has been filled with either cash-grabbing remakes, [...]

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Movie Review: Inception

***Review contains spoilers*** Inception is as much an illusion as it is a film. Within each cranny of this well-traversed labyrinth of a movie is an assessment of reality and our incomplete understanding of it all. Our perception is guided (and even misdirected) by the meticulous management of director Christopher Nolan; he is the Architect, [...]

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Movie Review: Toy Story 3

The silver screen is not a dividing median that separates the moviegoer from the moviemaker. It’s a collaborative and reflective device that merges the two together. Filmmakers create ideas based off their own experiences, and the degree to which we enjoy them is based off ours. In a way, it’s therapy. We take a great [...]

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Movie Review: Get Him to the Greek

Of all the characters in 2008′s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Russell Brand’s raunchy and downright sexy Aldous Snow is the most intriguing. Without question, his charming flamboyancy makes him the perfect candidate to be featured in a spin-off, and there is no better sidekick to have than, of course, Jonah Hill. Together, they are able to [...]

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Movie Review: Splice

***This review contains spoilers*** Any disturbing part of a film–plot point, twist, image, character revelation– should serve a logical purpose for the betterment of the narrative. Making the audience uncomfortable with disquieting moments can be effective and creative, but when our discomfort arises from haphazard filmmaking and questionable characterization, that’s when you know something has [...]

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Movie Review: MacGruber

The best way to parody a certain genre is to be committed and nonchalant. Movies such as Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans spend so much time making poorly deliberate jokes that they fail to establish any grounds for themselves. The characters in these failing films even know that they’re in a foolish and embarrassing [...]

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Movie Review: Kick-Ass

For the past two months, Kick-Ass has amassed critical attention for its unrelenting violence and satirical splendor. Director Matthew Vaughn has been lauded for integrating several elements of the super hero genre to create a whole new experience of action, and several viewers have compared him to the likes of Quentin Tarantino. After finally seeing [...]

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Movie Review: Shutter Island

***WARNING: Review contains spoilers*** Weeks ago, I made the optimistic insinuation that Shutter Island’s marketing campaign was a scheme of misdirection. I had beliefs that the film’s trailers were deceptive inkblots to a larger illusion rather than slight indications that the great Martin Scorsese had succumbed to telling a predictable story. Well, I was wrong; [...]

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Top 10: Movies of 2009

It is now 2010, and everything from reviews to teasers is suddenly culminating to this. A reflective and hopefully not so irrelevant list of my favorite movies from 2009. I know that publishing such a compilation seems so out of date when we’re already in the new decade, but I want to contemplate on the [...]

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