Sunday, May 19, 2013
Star Trek Into Darkness is directed by J.J. Abrams and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana.
Star Trek Into Darkness is playing now at the Regal Ballston Common Stadium 12 and at the AMC Courthouse Plaza 8. Watch the trailer in the media box to the right. ----- Boy, this is going to be one short review. This movie has more spoilers than the 1967 Enterprise had Tribbles…and in the interest of full disclosure, this is written by the Cinema Siren who owns chairs from the Voyager show, can list the original episodes in order of appearance, has a T-shirt with a quote in Klingon, and a model of the Enterprise signed by all the original cast members. That is to say, fandom lives here. Any experience of watching the new release by director J. J. Abrams would naturally be filtered through a brain steeped in Star Trek knowledge and …
Monday, April 15, 2013
Film stars James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson.
Director Danny Boyle, fresh off being dubbed a national hero for his triumph directing the Olympic ceremonies in London, took a big directorial risk with his new release "Trance." The film is a frenetic, haunting genre-bender that grabs hold of and keeps your attention from its first moments to its last with such force you'll feel like you're falling through Alice's rabbit hole after being hurled into it by two burly 6-foot bunnies in kilts. This cinematic journey is one filled with confusion, illusions, violence and moral ambiguities, and not a head trip everyone will be willing to surrender to or appreciate. Much like the somewhat similarly convoluted "Inception," it is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of flick. Whether it will be enjoyable for…
Monday, April 8, 2013
The 3D enhancements make it worth seeing again on the big screen.
Once again we are at an old-versus-new and purist-versus-innovator crossroads. Why in the world would anyone go out to see "Jurassic Park" in the theater for $12-plus when they can snuggle at home and watch it on their own 40-inch HDTV? What could make this release worth the time of movie fans out there? It all comes down to the experience. We haven't seen "Jurassic Park" in the movie theaters since its release in 1993. They could have re-released it without the new bells and whistles and I'd have been halfway there. With all the mediocre new 3D releases depending on the new technology to fill the gap of good story, I really wanted to see one of the favorites of my youth similarly enhanced to see if I would enjoy it even more. The …
Monday, March 25, 2013
Frenetic fun, Stone Age family-style. Three out of five starfish.
"The Croods," the new 3-D computer-animated feature release from DreamWorks Animation, is the story of a prehistoric family that takes a road trip out of necessity. Patriarch Grug (Nicolas Cage) spends every day protecting his family by alternately leading them on life-endangering family hunting trips and terrifying them into staying in their tiny cave-home with stories about everything in the outside world being potentially deadly. "Never not be afraid," he says. Daughter Eep (Emma Stone) believes that's no way to live. Her sense of adventure carries her father away from the cave and her dad's controlling nature, much like any teen looking to figure out who they are. Everything changes when their cave is destroyed in the dramatic earth …
Monday, March 11, 2013
Cinema Siren gives film three out of five starfish.
"I don't want to be a good man, I want to be a great one!" This declaration by James Franco as the title character of Sam Raimi's new Disney prequel could just as easily be a hope of the director's as well. Is the movie great? Is it even good? "Oz the Great and Powerful" is entertaining, and you could do worse than to spend your time watching this interpretation of L. Frank Baum's world flash flowers and toss monkey wings in your face. But the weaknesses of it make me walk to the dark edge between recommendation and warning to ponder throwing my ruby shoes into the abyss. This movie tells the story of how the wizard came to Oz and became the man behind the curtain, the wizard Dorothy and her friends seek to solve their problems. This …
Monday, January 28, 2013
R-rated film released Friday in movie theaters nationwide.
Sometimes a movie is just bad. We can all watch it and see what they had in mind, how the pitch went, how the director and producers signed on, and talked some pretty big stars into taking part. And we can see the whole thing derail through to post production, delayed release, and as we watch the finished product with an ever-dwindling vestige of hope. Such is the case for "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters." Why Cinema Siren is reviewing this movie at all is a fair question. I'll go on record as saying there is always a chance a good movie will find its way to the multiplex in January — not the ones that were in limited released in Los Angeles and New York in December to qualify for the Oscars. Those are the movies everyone is busying …
Monday, December 24, 2012
Great acting makes you join in their crusade.
The filmmakers want to ask, "Will you join in their crusade?" After much promotion and fanfare, a new musical film interpretation of "Les Misérables" is opening nationwide on Christmas Day. For you non-Mis folk, this is the story of Prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean, who breaks parole, is hunted relentlessly by Inspector Javert and encounters various troubled and impoverished characters in post-revolutionary France. Based on the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo, it is beloved by generations of musical theatre fans. A musical version of the movie was a risky undertaking, but now promises a huge pay-off to the studio, cast and crew, thanks largely to a career-topping job by several of the lead actors. The endless marketing about the actors singing live…
Monday, December 17, 2012
Santa brings a mixed bag to blockbuster franchise.
This holiday, with the expected blockbuster release of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" — it has already broken records for midnight release of a movie more than two-and-a-half hours long — Santa brings a very mixed bag. First, let's talk about the coal-worthy aspects of the journey. Unless you are a slave to technology, spend most of your days playing video games or crave seeing the Next Big Thing, avoid the mercifully limited number of screens — 10 percent — showing it in 3-D, filmed at 48 frames per second instead of the usual 24. Director Peter Jackson argues the high frame rate technology gives the movie a sense of reality, like "looking into the real world." Unfortunately, while it brightens the often-muddled look of 3-D, it also …
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Review: Latest release is worthy of franchise's 50th anniversary.
In its 50th year, much is at stake for the Bond franchise. With so many great movies producing such a cultural icon, the pressure is on to create a movie worthy of release in the anniversary year. Something mediocre or forgettable just wouldn't do — ahem, "Moonraker," I'm talking to you… By showing due respect to its pedigree, adding some exciting new elements, and featuring a great script, acting and production design, "Skyfall" rises to the top as one of this year's best films, Bond or otherwise. Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") helms the story wherein a madman — of course — winds up with a hard drive that reveals all of England's embedded operatives, which obviously puts MI6 in a spot. The baddie has it in for M (…
Monday, October 15, 2012
Thriller based on CIA plot during Iran hostage crisis.
Cinema Siren stumbled off a plane from Paris and stumbled into a darkened movie theater this weekend to see actor/director Ben Affleck's great new fall release, "Argo." This highly entertaining movie was made all the more fun by being in a sold-out theater with a crowd entirely made up of people over 30 at 1:50 in the afternoon. When was the last time any of you have seen that? Our thanks go to Ben Affleck, who has turned into quite a force in Hollywood, offering a smartly entertaining movie that is both fast-paced and extremely exciting. You'd think anyone in Hollywood who got the phone call with the storyline of this movie would jump on it. The elevator pitch is amazing: A CIA operative convinces his higher-ups to support his outlandish…
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