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  • July8th

    2 Comments

    Two Thumbs Way Up: An Appreciation of Roger Ebert and Life Itself

    Posted in: Movie Reviews

    ebert

     

    Life Itself
    2014, 115 mins
    Rated R
    A

    by Cole Stratton (@colestratton)

    “I had a colonoscopy once, and they let me watch it on TV. It was more entertaining than The Brown Bunny.” — Roger Ebert

    As a life-long film lover, Roger Ebert was a major influence on me growing up. His infectious enthusiasm for film inspired me to write and talk about movies from an early age; while my peers had posters of Ken Griffey Jr. and Ricky Henderson gracing their walls, I papered mine with hand-me-downs from a nearby video store — I was probably the only ten year old with one-sheets from films like Get Shorty, Nadine, A Fish Called Wanda and Lost in America and giant cardboard standees for Broadcast News, Willow and Dirty Dancing. I wrote a review of The Lost Boys and submitted it to The Werehouse’s in-store video magazine when I was 14; it was published and I received a Pirates of Dark Water kite for my trouble, much to my chagrin (I really wanted an MGM sweatshirt and mug, which was an example prize). During high school, I interned at my town’s primary paper The Davis Enterprise, eventually coordinating a bi-weekly page called Youth Beat in which I chronicled exceptional local teens and reviewed films. I came at my subject matter the same way I imagined Ebert did; from a place of pure affection and joy for the medium that had filled countless hours of my formative years. Since then, I’ve often fallen down the rabbit hole of reading his reviews on rogerebert.com, or plowing through online vids of episodes of Siskel & Ebert for hours on end. Read More | Comments

  • September11th

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    Cole vs. Short Term 12

    Posted in: Movie Reviews

    shortterm12

    Short Term 12
    2013, 96 mins
    R
    Grade: A

    Short Term 12 is, quite simply, one of the best films of the year. An engrossing drama with moments both touching and funny, it’s a confident debut from writer/director Destin Daniel Crettin. The film follows Grace (Brie Larson, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses) who dedicates her life to helping at-risk kids and teens at an undermanned facility, with the help of her (secret) boyfriend Mason (John Gallagher, Jr., charming) and a small staff. The film picks up on new employee Nate’s first day (Rami Malek, always good) who is quickly overwhelmed by the bevy of troubled youth at the center. Grace keeps a level head and advises him “You kind of have to be an asshole before you can be their friend.” Things change for Grace the day a fifteen year old girl named Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever, from Justified) is admitted, who has bounced around from facility to facility due to violent behavior. The two have more in common than one would suspect, as Grace has a troubled past of her own. Read More | Comments

  • August21st

    1 Comment

    Cole vs. Kick-Ass 2

    Posted in: Movie Reviews

    kickass

     

    Kick-Ass 2
    2013, 103 mins
    R
    Grade: D

    For the record, I really like the first Kick-Ass film. A fun, meta exercise on super hero excess and comic books, it was subversive and viscerally fun, and well put together under the watch of Matthew Vaughn. Swap out Vaughn for Jeff Wadlow (Cry Wolf, Never Back Down), and suddenly you’ve got a picture that’s just long on ugly and low on fun. The ultra-violence on display lacks the mischief of its predecessor, and just feels brutal and wrong. Add in graphic vomit and diarrhea (I’m not kidding), and you’ve got a pretty gross two hours to kill. Read More | Comments

  • August14th

    1 Comment

    Cole vs. Elysium

    Posted in: Movie Reviews

    elysium

    Elysium
    2013, 109 mins
    R
    Grade: B-

    Neill Blomkamp is a visionary director that likes to make films set in garbage heaps. For his first film since the breakout sleeper hit District 9, he goes from the slums of South Africa to the slums of Los Angeles, circa 2154 — the earth has been ruined and overcrowded, only to see the wealthy jump ship from the planet and set up shop in a rotating spacestation called Elysium — basically, one giant french-speaking country club with miracle beds that cure all diseases. Defense Minister Delacourt (Jodie Foster) is on hand to make sure no one disturbs their utopia, shooting down ships with “illegals” from Earth who try to find their way up there. Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), an ex-con trying to go straight in LA, is constantly abused by those around him — the police robots (who break his arm after a wisecrack); his ex-partners in crime; and his assembly-line foreman (who is such a thinly drawn character its hard not to laugh at his awful dialogue). After an accident exposes him to a fatal dose of radiation, Max has a handful of days to find his way up to Elysium, or die trying. Fused with a beat-up mechanical exoskeleton and a hard drive in his brain (that, through a series of events I won’t go into, contains information that pretty much everyone wants), Max has a lot of shooting, running and punching to do. Read More | Comments

  • August5th

    2 Comments

    Cole vs. RED 2

    Posted in: Movie Reviews

    red2

     

    RED 2
    2013, 1 hr. 56 min
    PG-13
    Grade: C+

    It’s always weird when a film that was a fairly moderate success at the box office suddenly gets a sequel — such was the case of 2010’s RED, an lightly entertaining secret agent action comedy with a splendid cast and a cute conceit. Kicking off the dog days of summer, RED 2 (that stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous) finds assassin Frank Moses (Bruce Willis, at his scowliest) and his now-girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) in hiding, stuck in a bit of a relationship rut until good ol’ paranoid Marvin (John Malkovich) tries to lure him back into action. One Costco trip and fake death later, the trio find themselves on the run from pretty much every nation’s government, all concerning an operation codenamed Nightshade that they have no knowledge of but were supposedly involved with. Hot on their trail are Korean assassin/snappy dresser Han (Byung-hun Lee, of the G.I. Joe movies), who has a long-standing beef with Moses and relishes the opportunity to knock him off; steely-eyed American government clean-up man Jack Horton (Neil McDonough, picking up where he left off after Justified); Russian agent and ex-Moses lover Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones, at her tannest); and MI-6 hitwoman Victoria (Dame Helen Mirren, still the hottest thing in heels). What follows is a lot of globehopping, a murky plot involving a devastating explosive device, and lots of chase scenes and gunfights. Oh, and lots and lots of none-too-subtle product placement from the likes of Papa John’s and Pringles. Read More | Comments

  • July30th

    1 Comment

    Cole vs. The To Do List

    Posted in: Movie Reviews

    todolist

     

    The To Do List
    2013, 1 hr. 44 min
    R
    Grade: C

    The To Do List is a raunchy comedy that takes place in the ’90s — so much so, that it beats you over the head with it. 1993, in fact, which is precisely when I was about to finish high school and head off to college, so the era has a very special place in my heart. It’s one thing to set a film in a time period to dial up some nostalgia — but constantly calling it out instead of just existing in it can make one crazy. Such is the case of this fairly entertaining but troubled comedy from writer/director Maggie Carey, who seems to have a soft spot for the early 90s that, in addition to soundtrack littered with The Cranberries, The Gin Blossoms and Big Head Todd and the Monsters (a LIVE version of Bittersweet, to boot), constantly references things like pagers, Street Fighter II, Growing Pains and Saved By The Bell. One character, who is obsessed with the movie Beaches, remarks that she’s “got it on VHS,” which is a statement that pretty much no one said in 1993, as there wasn’t any other format options — a simple “rented it” would have sufficed. This might sound like I’m nitpicking, but calling attention to these things became more and more irksome every time. Let me notice the hypercolor shirt, you don’t have to have someone remark, “You look good in hypercolor.” Read More | Comments

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