The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Score: 10/10 Simply put: amazing. It is the best movie I have seen in 2013. I had low expectations going into the first movie. I came away blown away and in love with the story. I had high expectations for the sequel after reading the books and my expectations were significantly exceeded by the movie. Do not get me wrong. The book is much more thorough and detailed. However, it would have taken a much longer movie to cover everything...
The Hunger Games
An in depth look at the previous Hunger Games. If you’re about to see the second installment and need to know what happened in the first. Look no further. Enjoy Score: 8.5/ 10 “Why do we have a winner? I mean, if we just wanted to intimidate the districts, why not round up twenty-four at random and execute them all at once? It would be a lot faster. Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little...
Oh, Russel
A retrospective look at ‘Silver Linings Playbook’: In an online writers’ discussion group, a poet (of course) friend of mine stated her rule of thumb for creating a piece: “I give it to my friend to read, and if she tells me she likes it because she ‘gets it’, I throw it out. ‘Getting it’ shouldn’t be the goal of writing—if you want something accessible, go read a dishwasher manual.” This is a surprisingly ubiquitous...
Review: 12 Years a Slave
The mark of a quality filmmaker is one who does not sugar coat or romanticize the truth – even if it is a brutal truth. Steve McQueen is a quality filmmaker. I’m a sucker for historical movies and a great cast, so of course I had to see 12 Years a Slavedespite that fact that I knew it would hard to watch. But with the star power of popular actors like Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender, one would think such celebrity would...
12 Years a Slave and The Importance of Discomfort
This weekend I saw Thor 2. It was fun and I liked it. I won’t remember it in a week. All weekend however, I felt like seeing 12 Years A Slave was a responsibility that I had. In a year where the “black message” movie has crossed-over into critical acclaim with Fruitvale Station, Lee Daniel’s The Butler, and 12 Years A Slave, I feel like I have somewhat of a responsibility as an educated black man to see the...
Thor: The Dark World Movie Review
Score: 8/10 Thor: The Dark World (“TDW”) is the sequel to 2011’s Thor. It also takes place after the events in the Avengers. At the end of first movie, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) destroys the Bifrost in order to stop his adopted brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from destroying Jotunheim, Loki’s true homeworld as he was born a Frost Giant. The destruction of the Bifrost cuts Asgard off from the rest of the nine realms and his love,...