Epinions Recent Reviews for updateghost

The Soloist: The Soloist -- a failure on more than one level

Mon, 25 May 2009 17:53:05 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Joe Wright has produced two of the finest films of the 00s -- ask some college men and women what their favorite romance movie is, and Pride and Prejudice will surely be the answer at least a few times, making it somewhat of a genre classic...

The Veckatimeliest Review of Grizzly Bear 's Veckatimest

Sat, 23 May 2009 17:06:39 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Grizzly Bear toured with Radiohead. Now you know they're good.That's more or less the story of their career -- the band's debut, "Horn for Plenty," went virtually undernoticed by the indie mainstream, mostly being a solo project for band...

It's Blitz! But the Yeah Yeah Yeahs fumbled

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:10:32 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - There's no hype as useless as "self-re-imagination" hype. Often, when a band's newest record is only a few weeks away, it is marketed by interviews and street teams as "going in a new direction," being "revolutionary" or "ground-breaking." This was...

Waltz with Bashir: Why is this Waltz with Bashir in freestyle?

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:13:55 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Style is good. It distinguishes the great films from the merely satisfactory. It helps a work of art elevate from amusing to heartbreaking. Some would-be-good films become great because of style; Before Sunset is a prominent example. Other films...

Sweet Coraline -- ha, beat you to it

Sun, 8 Feb 2009 18:13:50 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - When you walk into the theater that Coraline is playing at, the first thing that you'll probably notice is that there are plenty of kids around you. When the movie starts playing, the second thing you'll probably notice is that this movie wasn't...

Asobi Seksu produces the most intense Hush you'll ever hear

Sun, 8 Feb 2009 18:10:43 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - When Asobi Seksu's "Me & Mary" single dropped in late 2008, its whirlwind of thoughts, complex riffs, and thematic opaqueness promised that Hush would be one of the best shoegaze records we'd ever see – this after many labeled the New...

Revolutionary Road: Revolutionary Road: Far from Revolutionary

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 07:21:47 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Sam Mendes’ American Beauty was one of the best films of 1999 – it captured the banality of the American Dream with an acerbic wit and subtle honesty that made its story worth exploring again and again. With a movie that accomplished...

The Wrestler: Just avoid the ring when The Wrestler's daughter walks in

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:21:03 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Howard Hawks famously said, “A good movie is three good scenes and no bad scenes.” It’s tempting to wonder what Hawks would think of Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, which possesses more than three good scenes but more than one...

Animal Collective -- Merriweather Post Pavilion

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:13:04 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - How solid of a record you find Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion depends ultimately on how you listen to music. If you zoom through 600 albums a month and never turn back, valuing risk-taking production and quirky reverb-soaked vocals over...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: SOLVED

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 06:05:32 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Three of the seven films in David Fincher’s directorial career have been among the best of the last 15 years. Se7en is a modern cult classic, its challenging themes continually discussed and debated in the film community. Fight Club is massively...

The Edge of Heaven: You'd be best off jumping from The Edge of Heaven

Fri, 2 Jan 2009 20:47:35 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - The critical community is saturated with upper middle-class white liberals, myself included. In their guilt for being upper middle-class white liberals, upper middle-class liberals tend to lavish ample praise on "aware" foreign films that tackle...

Rachel Getting Married: Rachel Getting Married belongs on VHS

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:45:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - The essence of Rachel Getting Married is reflected in its title — yes, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is getting married, but the story focuses on Kym (Anne Hathaway), the sister just out of rehab begging for attention and creating a mess...

Happy Go Lucky: Happy-Go-Lucky, Happy-Go-Lucky, joy joy

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:42:17 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - The main character in writer-director Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky&nb
sp;is
named Poppy (Sally Hawkins). Without context, if you combined that name with the title, one might believe that they're about to see a children's story full of...

Synecdoche, New York: Come visit us in beautiful Synecdoche, New York

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:39:37 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - When we think of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman's name comes to mind long before directors Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry—the screenwriter is just that distinctive, with each...

8th annual ISYMIYSMY W/O, pt. 2: Who Can You Trust? Not Morcheeba

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:12:50 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - This was written for MattA75's ISYMIYSMY W/O. thewisefool is my partner.Morcheeba has been undergoing difficult times lately. If you head to Metacritic.com and search for their records, absolutely none of...

8th annual ISYMIYSMY W/O, pt. 1: King Crimson makes me "Red"

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:05:54 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - This was written for MattA75's ISYMIYSMY W/O. thewisefool is my partner.Progressive rock's reputation has been on the lower spectrum over the past couple of years. Most "intellectual" music websites (e.g.,...

Tropic Thunder: Tropic Thunder: the year's funniest so far

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:14:40 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Some will scoff, but Tropic Thunder is easily the funniest movie released this summer and the second wide release of this year (distant behind The Dark Knight, however). Its humor is of so many types, its satire functions on so many levels,...

Pineapple Express: Pineapple Express? I've smoked better

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:13:04 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Some people out there will legitimately, intellectually love Pineapple Express. It is not a movie that functions on immediate, gut-busting reactions -- actually, many of the slapstick and gross-outs and cheap and predictable. Instead, some of the...

I saw a better Interview with the Vampire in that one book

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:53:43 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Just by a film's design, you can often discern from era it's from. Whether this is good or bad is up to the viewer. My Fair Lady is charmingly 1964. Death Race 2000 is cheesily 1972. Much to its impair, Neil Jordan's Interview with the...

I can't wait for the Paul W.S. Anderson version of Death Race 2000

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:33:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - There's are two types of "so bad it's good" movies. One is those that are conscious of their badness and have something to say through it -- such as Wild Things. It's gleefully terrible but pointed as well. Then there are the others -- those that...

The Dark Knight: He is... The Dark Knight

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:03:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is so good that reviewers might not even want to write about it. We'd rather swim in its goodness, reflecting on the consistent intensity, the high-grade performances, the moral complexity, etc., etc. Like...

The in-aptitude of Apt Pupil

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:47:56 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - A word for future storytellers: When both your protagonist and antagonist are unlikeable, your chances of delivering a worthwhile story are close to nil. Apt Pupil, unsurprisingly, is no exception in its eagerness to exploit tragedy for "that's...

Going through divorce? Enjoy Scenes from a Marriage

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:46:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - In an age where information is jetting at us from all directions at incomprehensible speeds, it's nice to sit back and absorb the work of a director who actually takes his bloody time. Sometimes he takes too much time, but a slow, pensive drama is...

Joseph Heller's No Laughing Matter shouldn't be a reading matter, either

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:24:36 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - Joseph Heller was one of the greatest post-WWII satirists and one of the best American writers, period. His debut, Catch-22, is often considered his "crowning achievement," but God Knows is just as funny and exponentially more moving, being...

Ponytail isn't very Ice Cream Spiritual!

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:04:07 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author updateghost - At first listen, Ponytail sounds like a competent -- perhaps even normal -- indie-rock band. Their vocalist is unique. Their guitars sound peculiar. Their drummer is lively. Most of their songs are short, except for that one song -- like on most...