Blogcritics Author: moviejohn

Movie Review: The Dark Knight

moviejohn — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:15:57 EDT

A transcendent superhero movie and an ambitious marriage of allegorical artistry and pop entertainment.
From the opening minutes of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, I immediately shed off the feeling that I was in for watching a “superhero” movie. If there is a movie that can truly be labeled as transcendent, it is this most brilliant sequel that elevates itself to an epic crime story as well as a deeply heartrending tragedy. ...

Movie Review: Wanted

moviejohn — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:38:37 EDT

A balls-to-the-walls action thrill ride - nothing more, nothing less.
Wanted is nothing more or less than a balls-to-the-walls action thrill ride. The laws of physics are out the window and the film never stops to acknowledge them in the first place. Bullets curve and make wild trajectories from impossible distances. It is all in the breakneck energy and the ultra-slick atmosphere and this film has no shortage of...

Movie Review: Get Smart

moviejohn — Tue, 8 Jul 2008 02:29:46 EDT

A disappointing TV adaptation with too much stock summer action and too little humor.
Strange how Get Smart collects such an ideal cast and misuses it. Also peculiar how the film tries to be an action comedy but never really manages to get the action and the comedy right at the same time. On the surface, from the trailers and ads, the players all certainly seem primed and ready to attempt to capture the spirit of the original 60s...

Movie Review: WALL�E

moviejohn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:40:44 EDT

Pixar now stakes its mark of animated splendor in the science fiction genre, bringing to center the crucial theme they have always hinted at.
The word “wondrous” was invented for movies like WALL·E, which is more than perfectly fitting for a movie all about wonder and curiosity. Many great Pixar movies, from Toy Story to Ratatouille, have presented the trait of inquisitiveness as a virtue (though often resulting in a perilous but valuable journey) and in this film, it...

Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda

moviejohn — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:11:46 EDT

A fresh, skillful entertainment with a title that almost sells itself.
Kung Fu Panda. Either you love that title for seeming to be the paradox of paradoxes or hate it with utter disbelief. You also know that it will follow the general outline of a classic underdog story because, well, pandas are not the most nimble animals and we don’t immediately associate them with kung fu. What is surprising is how vibrant...

Movie Review: The Happening

moviejohn — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:49:39 EDT

Not completely successful but still too unfairly judged by the Shyamalan scorners.
I have not had as mixed a reaction towards a film as I have had for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening for quite a long time. If the people in the movie are fighting against some kind of serious force of nature, so do the scenes of Hitchcockian suspense with moments that veer straight into camp. The results are not completely uninteresting...

Movie Review: The Visitor

moviejohn — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:26:39 EDT

A sensitive portrait of a man's reawakening in a politically unforgiving world.
Many may regard Thomas McCarthy’s The Visitor as just a parable or even a humanistic fantasy but I would like to think that it is more than that. I want to believe that somewhere a buttoned-down, emotionally shut-down scholar could reawaken when he decides against merely throwing out two immigrants who have been illegally staying in his...

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

moviejohn — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 21:51:30 EDT

A disappointing mooch off the famous Indy franchise rather than a revisit.
There is a distinct difference between revisiting a franchise and just mooching off one and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is sadly a trademark example of the latter. A revisit would have required the recognition of the passage of time from The Last Crusade (which, based on this film, should have stayed true to its title). At...

Movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

moviejohn — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:45:42 EDT

C.S. Lewis' imagination translates well into this second equally successful trip into Narnia.
The first time we visited Narnia in 2005’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, its citizens were threatened by the mercurial White Witch. In this second installment of the beloved series of books by C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the heroes discover that the threat comes in the form of a corrupt human ruler. No...

Movie Review: Redbelt

moviejohn — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:51:12 EDT

A typically compelling Mamet con game set in the martial arts world, up until its all too generic conclusion.
“There is nothing from which you cannot escape,” says the martial arts instructor protagonist as his chief principle in David Mamet’s Redbelt. But you know that since he is the hero of a David Mamet film, he will be put through the gauntlet of con games and deceptions and have that very principle severely tested beyond the realm...