Search Irreviews
-
Recent Reviews
- Good Kill – An artistic exploration of drone assassinations
- Citizenfour – a fascinating and important topic, but a disappointing documentary
- Interstellar – Probably the best film of the year, certainly the most enjoyable!
- Laggies – a delightful little film about late-blooming misfits
- Two Days, One Night – it’s (almost) exactly what you expect it to be
- Whiplash – a disgusting, stupidly manipulative piece of absurdity.
- Still Alice – big stars, big production, but still just a Hallmark movie of the week
- Wild – it’s surprisingly well-made and fun to watch
- Black Sea – diverting, but sadly predictable
- Birdman (Or the Expected Emptiness of Pretension)
- Mr. Turner – Planet of the Ape
- The Imitation Game – It’s an abomination
- A Brief Word on the 2014 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts
- Kill The Messenger – The important and tragic story of Gary Webb, the mainstream media, and the CIA
- This is Where I Leave You – the latest in a long line of “family reunion” movies
- A review of summer cinema – it was pretty grim!
- The Trip to Italy – It never should have been made
- A Most Wanted Man – Superficially entertaining, but poorly-made and overrated
- Magic in the Moonlight – It’s pissing me off!
- The Purge: Anarchy – Surprisingly, it’s rather good
- I Origins – ambitious and entertaining
- Boyhood – a bit one dimensional, but its one dimension is lovely, impressive and fun to experience
- Obvious Child – cute, dignified and gutsy
- Snowpiercer – a fantastic, riveting science fiction action allegory
- Edge of Tomorrow – it’s fairly entertaining
- Begin Again – confronting the future of pop music head-on
- The Fault in Our Stars – not super-moving, but definitely enjoyable
- Hellion – a gritty tale of fucked up parents and children
- Night Moves – a cool, subtle portrayal of hippy-liberal activism turned violent
- Cold In July – an outstandingly fun and unusual film, and a paean for the 1980s
- Austenland – so horrible, I’m speechless
- Elena – 80 minutes of torture
- Lucky Them – Toni Collette takes center stage and lights up the screen!
- Belle – it means well, but God is it slow (and dull)
- Finding Vivian Maier – an okay documentary on a fascinating artist
- The German Doctor (Wakolda) – Diverting, but feels more than a little contrived
- Chef – it’s heart is in the right place
- Jodorowsky’s Dune – a bizarre and amazing documentary
- Hateship, Loveship – it goes down well
- Divergent – entertaining, but there’s a lot wrong with it
Author Archives: roguespirit
Bottle Shock (2008), reconsidered
Continuing with our survey of wine movies, my wife and I decided to revisit Bottle Shock. Here is my prior review from the early days of Irreviews; obviously we did not like it back then. But on second viewing, we actually … Continue reading
Posted in 2008
Comments Off on Bottle Shock (2008), reconsidered
Bernie – Linklater tames Black, McConaughey, and MacLaine
Richard Linklater is a hell of a director. He somehow managed to direct this film featuring three actors (Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Shirley MacLaine) who are basically famous for over-the-top hamming and dominating films with their tics and exaggerated personas, … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
Comments Off on Bernie – Linklater tames Black, McConaughey, and MacLaine
New Years Eve – minimally entertaining
This film is an inoffensive potpourri of good-looking people minimally acting out various minimally entertaining stories. There’s a place for that.
Posted in 2011
Comments Off on New Years Eve – minimally entertaining
A Good Year (2006) – sweet and earnest, despite some bumpy comedy
My wife and I have decided to do a survey of wine movies, and so I pulled this one out of the dark reaches of forgotten, critically-damned films from the last decade. I’ve never been a Ridley Scott fan, and … Continue reading
Posted in Films of the 2000s
Comments Off on A Good Year (2006) – sweet and earnest, despite some bumpy comedy
Dark Shadows – Just watch the preview, it’s better than the movie
The reasons my wife and I went to see Dark Shadows were 1) the preview looked sort of fun, 2) we kind of like Johnny Depp’s weird shtick, and 3) the Barry White song at the end of the preview. I … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
Comments Off on Dark Shadows – Just watch the preview, it’s better than the movie
Submarine – a quirky and lovely little throwback to the Indie Renaissance
My wife and I really liked Submarine a lot. It’s a throwback to the glorious Indie Renaissance of the 90’s. The writing is crisp, funny and unusual, and it features marvelously written narration, delivered well by the main character. The … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
Comments Off on Submarine – a quirky and lovely little throwback to the Indie Renaissance
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Inoffensive and enjoyable
Marigold Hotel is exactly what it appears to be in the preview; my expectations were almost perfectly met. It is a light and fluffy tale of old age in a exotic land, featuring multiple overlapping storylines (one for each retiree,) … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
Comments Off on The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Inoffensive and enjoyable
The Five Year Engagement – It tries to do too many things, but it’s still good lighthearted fun
The Five Year Engagement is part Bridesmaids, part Lost in America, part New in Town, and part gross, Judd Apatow crap – it’s kind of a mishmash, a mishmash that does not hang together particularly well. A lot of the … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
Comments Off on The Five Year Engagement – It tries to do too many things, but it’s still good lighthearted fun
Apollo 18 – the found footage gimmick, done tolerably well
Apollo 18 may wish it was part of the impressive low-tech sci-fi movement arising in films (Sunshine, Monsters, District 9, Another Earth,) but it is not. It’s really just a Blair Witch thing set in space, except that it is … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
Comments Off on Apollo 18 – the found footage gimmick, done tolerably well
Sarah’s Key – a very good film in a usually disappointing genera
I really liked Sarah’s Key, and it’s the kind of movie that I usually don’t like. They somehow managed to do so many things right that are usually botched in films like this. The script is actually pretty good, and … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
Comments Off on Sarah’s Key – a very good film in a usually disappointing genera
Irreviews 