White House Down (2013)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 28th, 2013 - Movie Reviews

Emmerich knows how to stage action with the best of them, and in Tatum he has an action star willing to throw himself here and there with excitable ferocity. More, unlike Olympus Has Fallen for some reason this one ends up being a little easier to accept and take with at least a modicum of seriousness if only because the filmmakers refuse to treat their audience like imbeciles. White House Down isn’t exactly good, I’d never call it that, but it can be fun, and as such I can’t really begrudge anyone from making the choice to give this latest cinematic assault on the White House a chance.

Emmerich knows how to stage action with the best of them, and in Tatum he has an action star willing to throw himself here and there with excitable ferocity. More, unlike Olympus Has Fallen for some reason this one ends up being a little easier to accept and take with at least a modicum of seriousness if only because the filmmakers refuse to treat their audience like imbeciles. White House Down isn’t exactly good, I’d never call it that, but it can be fun, and as such I can’t really begrudge anyone from making the choice to give this latest cinematic assault on the White House a chance.

Wish You Were Here (2013)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 28th, 2013 - Film Festivals Movie Reviews

The pacing, while measured, some might even go so far as to call it leisurely, felt spot-on as far as I was concerned, everything building with an unhurried malevolent elegance that kept the tension building and the suspense continually omnipresent.

The pacing, while measured, some might even go so far as to call it leisurely, felt spot-on as far as I was concerned, everything building with an unhurried malevolent elegance that kept the tension building and the suspense continually omnipresent.

The Bling Ring (2013)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 21st, 2013 - Film Festivals Movie Reviews

I’m not sure what to write about Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring. The movie is as observationally distant as many of her previous films, especially Somewhere, to a lesser extent Lost in Translation, looking at its vapid, materialistic, fame-obsessed central group of teenage reprobates with the same disaffected malaise they themselves project. It’s aggressively nonjudgmental, the film choosing to view its protagonists with a detached superficiality that doesn’t connect emotionally but still manages to pack something of a major, uncomforting wallop all the same.

I’m not sure what to write about Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring. The movie is as observationally distant as many of her previous films, especially Somewhere, to a lesser extent Lost in Translation, looking at its vapid, materialistic, fame-obsessed central group of teenage reprobates with the same disaffected malaise they themselves project. It’s aggressively nonjudgmental, the film choosing to view its protagonists with a detached superficiality that doesn’t connect emotionally but still manages to pack something of a major, uncomforting wallop all the same.

Hatchet III (2013)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 21st, 2013 - Movie Reviews

If you’re like me, and if you can handle all the dismemberments, skull crushing, decapitations and disembowelments, if you’re willing to keep your brain in check and allow for the fact stupid is as stupid does no matter how much you wish otherwise, than this not-really-a-fright-flick fright-flick might just be for you. Enter at your own risk.

If you’re like me, and if you can handle all the dismemberments, skull crushing, decapitations and disembowelments, if you’re willing to keep your brain in check and allow for the fact stupid is as stupid does no matter how much you wish otherwise, than this not-really-a-fright-flick fright-flick might just be for you. Enter at your own risk.

The Haunting of Helena (2012)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 21st, 2013 - Movie Reviews

Familiar Haunting a Ghostly Misfire Sophia (Harriet MacMasters-Green) has moved to the south of Italy for work with her free-spirited daughter Helena (Sabrina Jolie Perez). When one of the child’s teeth comes lose, stories about the Tooth Fairy and her wondrous magical charms are understandably spun. But when Helena starts collecting her fellow classmates’ teeth, […]

Familiar Haunting a Ghostly Misfire Sophia (Harriet MacMasters-Green) has moved to the south of Italy for work with her free-spirited daughter Helena (Sabrina Jolie Perez). When one of the child’s teeth comes lose, stories about the Tooth Fairy and her wondrous magical charms are understandably spun. But when Helena starts collecting her fellow classmates’ teeth, […]

Maniac (2013)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 21st, 2013 - Movie Reviews

[Maniac] takes the basic idea from the previous film and then runs energetically into an entirely new direction, upping the slasher game by crafting a first-person you-are-there narrative structure that in large parts makes this effort the Enter the Void of B-grade exploitation terror.

[Maniac] takes the basic idea from the previous film and then runs energetically into an entirely new direction, upping the slasher game by crafting a first-person you-are-there narrative structure that in large parts makes this effort the Enter the Void of B-grade exploitation terror.

Monsters University (2013)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 21st, 2013 - Movie Reviews

[As] trivial as the majority of this story turns out to be, Monsters University is undeniably entertaining, this prequel making me laugh and keeping me smiling pretty much start to finish.

[As] trivial as the majority of this story turns out to be, Monsters University is undeniably entertaining, this prequel making me laugh and keeping me smiling pretty much start to finish.

Much Ado About Nothing (2012)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 21st, 2013 - Film Festivals Movie Reviews

Much Ado About Nothing is an astonishing creation overflowing in passion, energy, romance and humor. Whedon has done a glorious thing with this Shakespeare classic, and as summertime surprises are concerned, this ranks right up there with some of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure to see.

Much Ado About Nothing is an astonishing creation overflowing in passion, energy, romance and humor. Whedon has done a glorious thing with this Shakespeare classic, and as summertime surprises are concerned, this ranks right up there with some of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure to see.

World War Z (2013)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - June 21st, 2013 - Movie Reviews

In a summer where destruction and devastation have ruled, the filmmakers here have had the temerity to craft a mega-budgeted blockbuster that remembers to keep the human element at the forefront, the heart of World War Z beating with a strength and resilience I don’t just appreciate, I borderline love.

In a summer where destruction and devastation have ruled, the filmmakers here have had the temerity to craft a mega-budgeted blockbuster that remembers to keep the human element at the forefront, the heart of World War Z beating with a strength and resilience I don’t just appreciate, I borderline love.

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