THE NOVEMBER MAN
“Sure, it’s dumb. You already knew that. But it’s worse than that.” – Kristofer Jenson, C-Ville Weekly
“Donaldson knows the nuts and bolts of his craft and, perhaps more importantly, knows when to stay out of the way.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality
“Because of the fact that they take no risks with THE NOVEMBER MAN, the vast majority of the audience who sees it will come out realizing that there is also no reward.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show
“It’s significant because one’s expectations for the releases just before Labor Day is that they are trash being swept out the door by the studios.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW
“There’s so much about this film that sounds right on paper that it’s amazing how much it gets mangled in execution.” – Andy Crump, Movie Mezzanine
“AS ABOVE/SO BELOW is easily one of the worst movies of the year.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show
“…if you like those amusement park rides, or want to enjoy the feeling of claustrophobia from the comfort of a roomy movie theater, AS ABOVE, SO BELOW does say “boo!” often enough to provide a few jolts or nervous laughs.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies
LIFE OF CRIME
“Life of Crime is an entertaining movie featuring adult content, but it’s actually relatively safe for something that’s mainly about kidnapping and extortion.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show
“…while there is a nice bit of turnabout at the end—it is a Leonard plot, after all—the
rest of the picture lacks the precise comic beats that made other Leonard adaptations so memorable.” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian
“Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and John Hawkes work very well together…at least as actors. The dialogue they share sparkles, especially as their plan starts to go astray and it seems only a matter of time before their words turn deadly.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide
THE TRIP TO ITALY
“…it’s difficult to imagine how anyone with even a mild affinity for dry English wit and ennui could be turned off by Brydon’s and Coogan’s sharp brand of self-aware, self-deprecating banter; these guys have the rapid fire ebb and flow of witty discourse down to a science.” – Andy Crump, Movie Mezzanine
“While two middle aged men driving around listening to Alanis Morissette may be a funny idea, it doesn’t work at all in the movie, although Coogan and Brydon seem to disagree and milk it dry with increasingly little to laugh about every time they bring it up.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide
Much of the joy in THE TRIP TO ITALY revolves around Coogan and Brydon doing spotless impersonations of famous actors (Brydon’s Hugh Grant is so good you’d swear he was there), and taking barbed but loving jabs at each other’s abilities. – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter
THE ONE I LOVE
“Terrific ideas for setups don’t always come with equally terrific notions for resolutions.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston
THE CONGRESS
“Bashir’s flights of fancy in the animated half can be dazzling, until it returns to the plot that it never fully established.” – Kristofer Jenson, Dig Boston
“A free-flowing, wackadoo meditation on stardom, identity, illusions, ageism, technology, the life and work of Robin Wright, chemical dependency, kites and whatever else crossed the filmmaker’s mind at any given moment. Then about halfway through it becomes an animated adaptation of a Stanislaw Lem book. Yeah, there’s a lot going on here.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality
A LETTER TO MOMO
“…while the story and acting is all top notch in the movie, the real stars of A LETTER TO MOMO may just be the team of artists and animators who spent seven years making the movie.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide
Adults will quickly be able to decode the central mystery here, or suss out the details enough to make an educated guess, but A Letter to Momo really isn’t for them. It’s for their kids. If you need proof, then let the film’s one well-timed fart joke do the talking. Your whippersnappers will probably laugh their pants off. – Andy Crump, Movie Mezzanine
Andy Crump reports on Neil Marshall asking for BLACK WIDOW
Steve Head and John Black’s POST-MOVIE PODCAST has its own new site!
Bob Chipman podcasted about SIN CITY 2 and talked about the FANTASTIC FOUR reboot
SPOILERPIECE THEATRE looked at SIN CITY 2, IF I STAY and more
SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR
“It’s weirdly enervated and the novelty has worn off. A DAME TO KILL FOR is almost a half-hour shorter than its predecessor yet feels twice as long.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality
“If directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez spent half the time writing a better script than they did on coming up with ways to get Eva Green to stick her naked boobs out at the camera, SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR For might have been an entertaining movie.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide
“Sensitive moviegoers may complain about the film’s relentless celebration of bad taste. What they really ought to be offended by is its sloppy craft.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine
“The most detrimental difference between A DAME TO KILL FOR and its predecessor is that it takes itself too seriously. The film fails to achieve the same balance of over-the-top violence and biting humor that Sin City pioneered.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse
“For an action movie that boasts features large quantities of blood being splashed around the screen like water in a swimming pool during the heart of the summer, it’s a bit shocking that much of SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR is as dry and as lifeless as it is.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show
“…SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR has finally hit theaters, and it feels less like a long-awaited arrival and more like a term paper that is thrown together at the last second by piecing together previous assignments and using a thesaurus to hide its self-plagiarism.” – Kristofer Jenson, Dig Boston
“This is the second time this year [Eva Green] has done the femme fatale thing in a Frank Miller sequel nobody asked for, and the second time she’s bent the whole damn picture over a rail to get the job done – between this and 300 she’s gonna be THE feminine ideal in the eyes of an entire generation of horny young brats.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist
“It’s not exactly a “check your brain at the door” sort of movie, but it is one that appeals to our more animal instincts.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies
“It’s unfortunate to report, then, that the film’s long-awaited sequel — nine years in the making — SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR ultimately feels stale and monotonous, despite its abundance of delicious eye-candy. – Charlie Nash, Edge Boston
IF I STAY
“IF I STAY eventually begins to dissolve into something that made me want to walk out of the theater as fast as I could.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show
“What might have been simply a cheap bid for tears turns into a complex portrait of a girl navigating an extremely difficult path to adulthood.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies
“Just make the goddamn choice.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter
FRANK
“The audience will get to experience a smooth ride with Frank with some expectedly rough edges that will take them to a place where they’ll be satisfied with after the journey ends.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show
New business! The Boston Online Film Critics Association proudly welcomes Mr. Charles Nash and Mr. Derek Deskins to the team. You’ll be seeing their work here, along with everyone else’s, now twice a week!
Now, then…
Steve Head and John Black’s Post-Movie Podcast has it’s own whole website now!
Kilian Melloy reviewed some TV on DVD with BOARDWALK EMPIRE: SEASON 4 and REVOLUTION: SEASON 2
Inkoo Kang was disappointed by DARK HOUSE
Bob Chipman joined podcasts about recent movies and Summer Slam
Spoilerpiece Theatre, Joyce Kulhawik, Bob Chipman and Kilian Melloy remember Robin Williams
Kris Jenson looked into THE DOUBLE
Deidre Crimmins looks back at PRETTY IN PINK