By: Addison Wylie Why is it that Out of the Furnace has so many accomplishments going for it, yet it’s an impossible recommendation? Telling someone to watch Out of the Furnace would be like telling someone to hold a bunch of wild snakes and assuring them they won’t get bit. Scott Cooper’s thriller is one of those movies you appreciate a few hours after having watched it. Viewing Out of the Furnace for the first…
By: Addison Wylie As far as films with an ensemble cast go, August: Osage County is among the best. Its star studded line-up filled out by Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis (just to name a few) is enough to get movie goers in seats. What pays off even more are the exceptional performances during the constant sparring between these highly dysfunctional family members. The Westons have a large family and…
By: Addison Wylie The Spectacular Now is the movie about high school I wish I had growing up. It’s easily identifiable and relatable to anyone who felt growing pains or knew someone having a wobbly time through secondary education. James Ponsoldt’s coming-of-age dramedy features two exceptional performances from up-and-comers Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, who play unexpected friends who eventually become smitten with each other. Though, Teller’s motormouth Sutter Keely won’t directly admit it since…
By: Addison Wylie Disney has shown again and again that they rise to the occasion with fairy tales. Their fantasies featuring sparkling animation and lively characters always bring out the bliss in audiences and the bacon at the box office. Frozen is no different. It’s charmed movie goers far and wide with its strong female personalities and fetching tunes. Frozen also serves as being one of the only current family films that has stabilized sturdy…
By: Addison Wylie Nicky’s Family is an elementarily formatted documentary using a cluster of different stock footage from the 1930’s, with interviews helping navigate the viewer through a touching real life tale. It’s a structure that’s very simple and we’ve all seen it before. The documentary also appears to have been shot on substandard video, which leads to a dated image that’s generally murky with visible blemishes. Furthermore, the overall feeling of Nicky’s Family is…
By: Addison Wylie Everyone has their own type of vice. Helene’s is her camera. Although she’s able to enthral people with her stunning photography, it’s an interest of hers that she chooses to take up a large portion of her life. The high she gets off of the perfect picture is that of a drug. Like a drug would do, Helene’s talent keeps her in her own world while others are kept out. Her daughter,…
By: Addison Wylie I feel it’s almost necessary to start a review for We’re the Millers stating that Jason Sudeikis’ pot dealing character is never shown smoking marijuana or hinting that it could be smoked. I’m also inclined to state that while Jennifer Aniston’s broke, erotic dancer character is occasionally shown in scantily clad underwear, it appears she also works in the only strip club establishment where other dancers stay covered. These may sound like…
By: Addison Wylie The most impressive attribute about Monsters University, besides its wit and vibrant animation, is its choice to not use nostalgia as a crutch to help connect movie goers – young and old – to the characters they loved in Pixar’s predecessor. Instead, the film uses two main tactics Monsters Inc. utilized to develop excitement and compassion. Those two ingredients are imagination and heart. The campus life of Mike Wazowski and James P….
By: Addison Wylie With his latest feature film, writer/director Derek Cianfrance has already made his Magnolia with The Place Beyond the Pines, an excellent and expansive drama intertwining complex characters and haunting pasts with a twist of fate. This is, without a doubt, a step in the right direction for Cianfrance who made a name for himself rather quickly with 2010’s Blue Valentine. I was a fan of the tightly wound performances in Blue Valentine,…
By: Addison Wylie I could say that Sam Raimi’s OZ: The Great and Powerful puts the ‘Z’ in OZ because of how sluggish and boring it is, but that wouldn’t make for much of a review. Instead, OZ: The Great and Powerful can be compared to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, another big budget fairy tale that shares the same strengths and weaknesses as OZ. Like Tim Burton’s hit, Raimi’s family film is far more interesting…