Director Joe Burke is a man seen around these parts for the last two or three years and he’s a man who has managed to spawn some great reviews from yours truly who has been so far impressed with what his indie shorts have to offer. A man of many genres, Burke best knows how to capture that twenty something sentiment enabling his cast to work within their limits while painting the portraits of cities that are darker than our own and lives that seem to be nothing but heading for a dead end romantically and emotionally. Past efforts like “Coop’s Night In” have proven that he knows how to portray actual characters on screen without any need to exaggerate what we’re seeing.
Tag Archives: Romance
Zombieland (2009)
It’s been precisely five years since the UK tossed “Shaun of the Dead” in to the American shores and so successful was it with fans that most of America’s directors (both independent and mainstream) have tried anxiously to deliver what the “Spaced” clan have. Along the way the after effect of the movie brought us some good clones (Fido) and some just purely awful (The Mad) and the quest to create our own version of what Edgar Wright gave us hasn’t ended, not by a long shot. So here we are again five years later and we finally have a movie that works along “Shaun of the Dead’s” tone while paving its own signature in the horror comedy subgenre.
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
At this moment and time I’m still not sure what I thought of “Jennifer’s Body.” I mean it has its high points but in the end I was left completely unimpressed and just all around apathetic to what I’d seen. For one thing I enjoyed “Jennifer’s Body” more when it was called “Ginger Snaps.” Director Kusama’s story of two sister-like friends (who find themselves in a supernatural situation that’s bigger than themselves one of whom is a freak while the other friend is a looker) has already been covered and with much more effective storytelling to boot. That being said, “Jennifer’s Body” is definitely not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, it’s just not going to re-invent the wheel.
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)
I’m one of the many people in the film community who has had nothing but contempt for the practices Rob Zombie has exorcised since his venturing in to filmmaking. Beside “Devil’s Rejects,” Zombie is a man who is nothing but a studio tool who injects his own brand of trailer trash chic in everything he does, even polluting the origin of Michael Myers with it. Zombie is 100 percent Grade A hack and a complete studio stooge who knows how to be a horror fan but doesn’t know what horror fans want, nor will he ever try to find out.
The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Second Season (DVD) (2009)
I think the more the series goes on the more it begins to feel like a clever sitcom from the BBC because when you see season two you can see all the pieces finally coming together. All the awkwardness and flaws from season one are practically gone and more intelligent humor is implemented to make this one of the smarter comedy series on television.
You assume a creaky premise with a hotty living among four science geeks would be filled with formula plotting and tired jokes; instead what we get is some interesting episodes involving the relationship between Leonard and Penny, along with more of Sheldon’s ever growing list of quirks and idiosyncrasies that help propel the show to heights that most modern sitcoms can’t.
Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans (2009)
I guess there was nowhere else to go with the series after the first two films pretty much accomplished all that it could. “Underworld” has been a very mediocre film franchise but with a surprisingly interesting mythos involving lycans and vampires and to prevent us from watching a repeat story similar to the first two, we instead get a prequel, the story of the feud between the lycans and the vampires that we only got a taste of in the first “Underworld.” While “Rise of the Lycans” does have its problems, the special effects can sometimes become some great eye candy that makes up for the poor story.
Marley & Me (2008)
What director David Frankel accomplishes with “Marley and Me” is what was basically a winning formula with “My Dog Skip,” a dog lovers movie about the life that revolves around man’s best friend, that life long companion who disappears much too early to allow unconditional love. “Marley and Me” is a genuine dog lovers movie, one of many that takes the life of a dog owner and plants it on screen with as much realism as writers Scott Frank and Don Roos would allow. And I think what connected audiences to this is that most of what main characters John and Jennifer go through is what we have been through with man’s best friend at one time or another.