Movie Week: Resident Evil: Retribution

For this Movie Week, Mike and I decided on a B-movie – Resident Evil: Retribution.  Recently we’ve been reviewing blockbusters, and felt that we should try something more along the lines of our prior ‘Ghost Rider’ viewing (Mike’s review, my review).  I’ve long had a guilty liking of the Resident Evil series, and there was a new one coming out….

A Movie that is a Game, A Game that is a Movie

For our seventh movie review we decided to go and see the latest installment of the Resident Evil series – Resident Evil: Retribution. I’ll begin by saying that prior to this decision I had never watched any of the movies or seen any of the video games. To prepare we used our most recent beer and a movie to watch the first Resident Evil movie and much to my relief I discovered it was about zombies (mostly). Zombies I can relate to. I’m not going to digress here with a review of the first movie, there are plenty of those out there if you want to read about it, but many of the things I will complain…er..comment about will probably apply to both movies.

A Movie Trio Review

The last few months, Mike and I have been watching a set of related movies as part of our beer reviews.  After all, when you’re drinking beer, it helps to be watching a good movie too.  We started off with Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, then watched Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, and concluded with Walter Hill’s Last Man Standing.  For those who aren’t familiar with all of the films, they’re all the same story, just re-cast in different eras.

Movie Week #6: The Dark Knight Rises

Another of the most anticipated movies of the 2012 summer season is the final film in the current Batman trilogy – The Dark Knight Rises.  It was high on our must-see movies, but unfortunately time and travel constraints meant that Mike and I didn’t manage to find a common time to go see it.  I took in a matinee showing, and didn’t spring for the ‘Imax-lite’  that our local theater offers.  My thoughts on the flic after the jump…

Titans of Science Fiction

Ridley* Scott’s prequel to Alien, Prometheus, begins as a grand quest to discover the origins of life until, inevitably, it all goes horribly,horribly wrong. [Spoilers?]

Movie Week #5: Prometheus

The ‘Alien’ movies, especially the first two, were seminal movie-going experiences for people of my age.  I was 12 when ‘Alien‘ was released.  I vividly remember the TV commercials for it – the minute I realized which commercial it was, I’d run to hide behind the TV set.  Needless to say, the ‘Alien’ series left a strong impression, and I count the first two among my favorite movies of all time.  So, when Ridley Scott decided to re-visit the Alien universe, I was torn – would ‘Prometheus‘ be another glorious film a la ‘Alien’, or would it be a disaster?  Read on to find my take on it…. {SPOILER ALERT – I will discuss plot elements – BEWARE]

Movie Week #4: The Avengers

All of the earlier movies of the summer were merely the build-up to the main event – The Avengers!  It’s been touted and heralded for more than a year.  It had FIVE movies that served as prequels to the main event.  The last movie event of this magnitude was the launch of the Harry Potter series, although an argument could be made for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Prior to seeing The Avengers, Mike and I watched many of the earlier movies.  So, in the end, does it measure up?  CAN it measure up to the hype?

Hunger Games, Another Guest Review

A guest review by Melanie.

After devouring the first two books of the Hunger Games saga -and nibbling on the third- I was pretty excited for the release of the movie adaptation. My friends and I laughed at and applauded the casting choices months in advance. I even tried to convince my parental units to let me see the midnight release of it. However, I ended up having far better things to do that weekend, and I instead saw the film with my family and the Kirkpatricks the following week. But there was a catch…..(ing Fire).

Hungry Like the Kat

Katniss's Favorite Lamb Stew

They didn’t seem very hungry.

I know that any review of the Hunger Games is going to involve a comparison to the book so I might as well start there. In the book by Suzanne Collins food plays a much more important role than in the movie. Don’t get me wrong there are some great scenes showing pictures of food on the big screen, but it doesn’t have the same emotional impact as the food did in the book. Hunger was a very real part of Katniss’s life in District 12 and feeding herself and her sister defined who she was. Sure she was a hunter, but she was more importantly a provider. The only hint of not having enough food in the movie is the flashback scene where Peeta throws the bread over to Katniss. It lacked punch for the very reason that we couldn’t remember why Katniss might be hungry.

‘The Hunger Games’ Guest Review

A guest review by Alia, after watching ‘The Hunger Games’ with her family and the Donnellys.