By: Addison Wylie Odd Thomas is certainly an odd case indeed. Stephen Sommers’ adaptation of Dean Koontz’s novel has good things about it, yet it has difficulty coming together as a whole. Anton Yelchin stars as Odd Thomas, a sweetly distraught hero with an ability to avenge the deaths of others. He’s approached by silent spirits who then lead him on paths, and it’s his duty to right whatever wrongs he faces. The local police…
By: Addison Wylie Need for Speed is an awesome movie. And, not in the way you call Patrick Swayze’s Road House “awesome” after a couple of beers. It’s a film that legitimately has so many exhilarating moments, you’ll want to watch it again as soon as the credits start rolling. Don’t get me wrong though. The film has plenty of corn and cheese to go around. Luckily, it all happens within the first 30 minutes….
By: Addison Wylie I usually stick to reviewing movies or anything related to cinema. But, every once in a while, I bend the rules pending on what gets zipped to me through my inbox. Recently, the DVD release of the short lived television series Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp was that exception. The series lasted from September 1970 to the cusp of January 1971, and the cast was made up by chimpanzees. It featured the title character…
By: Addison Wylie Everyone knows of Richard Curtis’ work one way or another – usually more so with a predominant female audience. Those women have usually caught these films when they’ve wanted to watch a cute chick flick with friends or they’ve caught the films on television during a cozy night in. Fellas, most of you have likely been dragged – er, have volunteered – to watch these romances with significant others. I may sound…
By: Addison Wylie Movie goers will always remember the big boom of modern vampires and their iffy lore. Some appreciated what Twilight executed with their movement, while others wished the movement had been executed altogether. That said, I believe we can all agree that fantasies about brooding creatures of the night have had their time in the spotlight and are now starting to peter away slowly. It was like witnessing an out-of-control party scamper off…
By: Addison Wylie Every so often, a movie comes along and upsets me heavily with how it wastes prime opportunities. February has slung that film at me and it’s called Sex After Kids, a Canadian independent comedy helped out with a successful IndieGoGo campaign. The only thing that stops me from getting really angry at Sex After Kids is that there is not a mean bone in its body. Filmmaker Jeremy Lalonde has truly tried…
By: Addison Wylie Lloyd Kaufman has proven with Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1 that you can go “back to the well” and resurrect a bawdy riot that was started more than two decades ago. The filmmaking ringmaster returns to Tromaville to continue the story of plagued teenagers who are slowly mutating due to exposure of toxic waste. The nasty nuclear power plant (which was stationed beside the high school) has been torn down,…
By: Addison Wylie Educators/designers/activists Emily Pilloton and Matthew Miller organized a program called Studio H and aimed it towards a select group of high school students in the Bertie County. The class involves teens brushing up on carpentry and learning about architecture. The program then has the students utilizing their skills towards their own community. Bertie County is undemanding. Those who live in the stoic Northern California area understand their unfortunate circumstances and try to…
By: Addison Wylie “Bittersweet” is the best word to describe Her. Spike Jonze has taken our bad habits with technology and projected them to frame an original love story with messages of poignancy. It’s a personal film about an impersonal society. The characters on-screen are closed off to everyone around them. Among them is writer Theodore Twombly (played by Joaquin Phoenix who is a spitting image of Napoleon Dynamite’s “womanizing” brother Kip). People are enjoyably…
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…