Idle Analytics» Film

Hollywood's box office debacle this summer is not hard to understand

Reuben — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:29:42 +0000

Via Slashdot: In the weeks since Spielberg’s prediction, six wannabe blockbusters have cratered at the North American box office: “R.I.P.D.,” “Turbo,” “After Earth,” “White House Down,” “Pacific Rim,” and “The Lone Ranger.” These films featured big stars, bigger explosions, and top-notch special effects—exactly the sort of summer spectacle that ordinarily assures a solid run at …

'Skyfall' is Bond at its worst

Reuben — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 04:22:44 +0000

One of the people who accompanied me to see the latest Bond film, Skyfall, had the misfortune that it was the only Bond movie she had seen. This is a shame, because Skyfall is Bond at its worst: offensive, misogynist, uninspired, bloated, and even corny, with cringe-inducing writing, a couple poor performances, and lackluster direction. …

Something that confuses me about other people's viewing habits

Reuben — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 04:28:32 +0000

Imagine that during the course of a conversation I ask you what your favorite song is, and suppose that you answer "Stairway to Heaven". Suppose that I am unfamiliar with that, and so I ask you who the artist is, and you answer that "I think John Paul Jones is playing bass on it." That …

L.A. Noire is good. Really good.

Reuben — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 08:54:12 +0000

Judging whether Rockstar's latest, LA Noire is artistically successful hinges on two things. The first is whether it fits into the genre its purports. The second is whether it does so well. The answers are yes, and hell yes. Film noir wasn't so much a genre as it was a movement, spanning the 1940s and …

Rant: How did they fuck up the Silent Hill movie so bad?

Reuben — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:03:09 +0000

My apologies to James Rolfe. Silent Hill is a good franchise, all said. The first two games are quite good, with the second being among many people's top 10 of all time (including my own. Actually, I would rank it number 2 or 3). Now, I'm not a fanboy; I really didn't expect the movie …

One critic's feisty defense of Avatar

Reuben — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:20:55 +0000

Airtalk had their annual roundup of critics at the Egyptian Theater to comment on the films nominated for the Academy Awards this year. I haven't yet seen Avatar, but I'm a pretty big admirer of James Cameron as a filmmaker. Most of the panel frankly hates Avatar, degrading it as a childish ripoff. This leads …

A classic Bernard Herman story

Reuben — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:47:31 +0000

ok, so I'm an NPR-listening lefty. Anyway, I was surprised to find no reference on the web to this classic story that Henry Sheehan told on Airtalk's Filmweek (which I highly recommend) about Oscar-winning composer Bernard Herman: A director poked his head into the scoring stage where Herman was conducting the score he had written. …

Don't be hatin' on Slither

Reuben — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:16:00 +0000

I happened to start watching Slither last night. Sounded like another of the cheap horror flicks we're inundated with each year, but my curiosity was piqued by the inclusion of the always winning Nathan Fillon. Lo and behold, it's great! From the middle of the film forward I laughed more than at all the recent …

Sublime Dissatisfaction: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure and David Lynch's Blue Velvet

Reuben — Sat, 25 Sep 2004 06:08:22 +0000

With popularity comes banality, or perhaps the reverse is true. Film, since its inception (commencing basically as soon as Edison lost his patent stranglehold over it) has been a burgeoning art form, beginning with Griffiths, Lang, Milestone, up through the likes of Fellini and Hitchcock, and into recent times. While there is no shortage of …

Recent movie roundup

Reuben — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 17:12:42 +0000

Quick opinions on the following movies I've seen recently: Spider-man 2, 2004 Anchorman, 2004 All Quiet on the Western Front, 1930 The Bicycle Thief, 1948 The Big Sleep, 1946 Wonder Boys, 2000 The Bells of St. Mary's, 1945 Read on for the reviews. Spider-man 2 (2004) Even with the typically blurry projection that I saw, …