Side Effects movie review.

Steven Soderbergh is a master of versatility. For close to 25 years, he’s tackled numerous genres for films such as Traffic, Erin Brokovich, and the riotously entertaining Ocean’s Trilogy. However, for every good film of his, he has a bad film. In particular, the last few years have been baffling to me. Contagion, Haywire, and Magic Mike all pleased critics, for reasons I don’t understand. I find his recent output overrated and uninteresting. However, I was getting excited for his most recent release (apparently his last theatrical release), a psychological thriller of sorts called Side Effects.

This was one of my most hotly anticipated films of the year, and while I still think it’s a limp product, it’s not as bad as his other recent output. It’s his best film since The Informant.

The Last of Us video game review.

Can video games be considered high art? This is a topic which has been debated for years, especially in the current generation. The medium has evolved over the years from a plumber rescuing princesses from gorillas, as well as Sega taking cheap shots at Super Nintendo with their "Blast Processing", to now telling stories that would rival even those from Hollywood. The medium has been continually breaking new ground, leading to cinematic quality tales such as Metal Gear Solid and Half Life, but could they be seen as art?

In my opinion, yes they can. If someone were to ask me why, I would immediately refer them to That Game Company’s visually poetic Journey, or to 2K Games’ haunting industrial commentary BioShock. There are many more I may possibly be forgetting, but those are what would immediately come to mind, and that list has already started growing as of recent.

Following up their success from the Uncharted trilogy on PlayStation 3, Sony developer Naughty Dog now takes themselves down new, haunting roads in complete contrast to Uncharted. The Last of Us, a post-apocalyptic tale that combines the best of survival horror gameplay, and the richness of a fully developed motion picture, was arguably the most hotly anticipated game of the year. Critics have obviously been showering it with immense praise and perfect scores, but what do I think about it? Does it rank highly with Naughty Dog’s own Uncharted 2? In my opinion, not only do I think it surpasses Uncharted 2 (Which is one of my favorite games of all time), I’m seriously thinking endlessly about whether or not I’d consider it the greatest game I’ve ever played. That may sound hyperbolic, but when you’ve just finished a game this poignant, beautiful, terrifying, emotional, and all around powerful, you have reason to be so ecstatic.

Man of Steel movie review.

I always get annoyed when people bash Bryan Singer for the “horrible and disappointing” Superman Returns, but let me ask. Was it honestly disappointing? Bash Singer if you want, but that movie was as good as it gets, by which I mean it’s almost impossible to make a good Superman movie, or good TV show (looking at you, Smallville). Only Richard Donner’s 1978 film accomplished this task, but not because of the main character. Simply put, I think Superman is a boring character. As a pop culture icon, he’s an undying symbol of hope in the darkest times, but as an actual character, he’s incredibly bland. There’s little to him, though everyone else sees something in him that I don’t understand.

When Warner Brothers announced Man of Steel, a reboot to Superman similar to Batman Begins, I was hoping it would be a rich, character driven experience. That was, until I found out it would be directed by Zack Snyder. Even though it had The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan’s good will as producer, I’ve made no secret of my hatred for Snyder as a director (specifically for the terrible Sucker Punch and Watchmen). In stark contrast to the hype built around this movie, I thought this was going to CRASH. AND. BURN!

The final verdict... it’s better than I thought it’d be, and it’s Zack Snyder’s best film to date, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. To be fair, it is enjoyable, but still VERY flawed.

Epic movie review.

Figured I’d get this review out of the way before the man in the red cape takes away my attention.

Animation normally takes a favorable lean towards Disney and Pixar, but one company that has also made a name for itself is Blue Sky. Though they’ve yet to make a truly incredible film, they’ve had their share of modest hits, mainly their full fledged comedies like Ice Age and Rio. Here, they take a decidedly more serious turn with Epic, an adaptation of the tale “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs” by William Joyce.

Joyce, a respected children’s author, is a fascinating individual, in that the worlds he can create from pure imagination are a spectacle on their own level. Epic is no less visually stunning than you would expect, but perhaps the filmmakers should have gotten an equally imaginative story to go along with this world.

Arrested Development Season 4 TV review.

Often considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Arrested Development is this guy’s favorite show ever. With its razor sharp writing, excellent ensemble cast, wonderful editing and back stories, and especially the flawless build up of the jokes, the show about the riches to rags Bluth family rightfully earned its title as one of the best written shows ever made. Every time you go back and revisit one of the older episodes, you begin noticing new jokes you missed, probably because you were too busy laughing at another joke. That’s how hilarious it is.

Ever since the third season’s finale, we’d long been hoping to see a movie teased to us by Ron Howard at the show’s very end.  For years, we buzzed around like impatient bees, stuffed our faces with mayoneggs, and continually got tired by everyone’s “illusions”, feeling as if we’d never see that movie. However, with the devoted fanbase growing, a long awaited fourth season was FINALLY put into production, thanks to Netflix. When news broke out, you bet that I was hyped for it. So, were we in store to get that same lightning in a bottle once more, or was our hype all for naught?

Star Trek: Into Darkness movie review.

Anybody who regularly tunes into Fox, ABC, or NBC will immediately be familiar with J.J. Abrams. The spearhead of hit shows such as Alias, LOST, and Fringe has also made his fair share of entertaining films such as Super 8, and 2009’s reboot of Star Trek, a thrilling, funny, and intelligently written and acted experience that never gets old. So, for what I assume was his “audition tape” for his upcoming continuation of the Star Wars saga, we all got excited to finally see its sequel, Star Trek: Into Darkness. One of the charms of the original Abrams film is that it hit the right chords with die hard Trekkies, but had enough of a broad scope to also win new fans, but does the sequel hit that same mark?

Well, yes, but not with as much success.

The Great Gatsby movie review.

Baz Luhrmann: Artistic visionary or artificial hack? Those are the only choices, ‘ol sport.

The Australian director, best known for films such as Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, leaves anyone watching his films polarized. He’s a stylish director specializing in lavish sets and costumes (both designed by his wife, Catherine Martin), frenetic editing, eclectic soundtracks, and comical vibes eventually forming into full on drama, all of which either enchant, or disgust his audiences. Everyone was both skeptical and curious when his next project was announced to be The Great Gatsby, a book I’m sure we all read skimmed across in high school. A book as famous and as hard to film as Gatsby is probably not the best bet for Luhrmann to make, but with the talent that he got on board for this movie, and the studio’s clever marketing, people definitely stopped to take notice, the film beckoning their attention like a flashing green light.