Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Now this flick…was a friggin blast! Yet again, Marvel proves that they’re VERY good at calculating the method, presentation, and marketing of their films. Their success streak, going back to the original ‘Iron Man’ (2008), is fast approaching the stuff of movie studio legend (ya kinda gotta feel for the noticeably lagging DC Comics right […]

Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988)

Very recently, I introduced my awesomely curious girlfriend to the hostile wastelands of the original Mad Max Trilogy (1979-1981-1985) and, after falling in love with ‘Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) all over again, I became curious about other science fiction flicks that took inspiration from (or directly ripped off) THAT well-constructed (and ballsy!) […]

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll undoubtedly say it again: Tom Cruise is very nearly the definition of ‘contradiction’ for me. On one hand, I think the man is a delusional wackjob member of a highly placed and sinister cult, who is somewhat out of touch with ‘reality’, and is fueled by a gargantuan ego. […]

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

I think that a safe argument can be made for the idea that ‘X-Men’ (2000) is REALLY the flick that kicked off the current Hollywood obsession with comic-book properties. Sure, everyone is aware of ‘Superman’ (1978) and ‘Batman’ (1989) being milestones in the history of comic book adaptations, but before ‘X-Men’, they weren’t taken all […]

Godzilla (2014)

In 1954, Japan’s Toho Company unleashed ‘Gojira’ upon its movie-going public. Influenced, at least in part, by the original ‘giant rampaging beast’ movie ‘King Kong’ (1933), ‘Gojira’ was a scary cautionary tale stemming from the horrors visited upon the Japanese people in the aftermath of the nuke drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945; the […]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

When I first heard that the iconic Marvel character Captain America was going to get The Big Screen treatment, in the wake of the wildly successful original 2008 ‘Iron Man’, I was instantly skeptical. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I’m a proud Canadian, and don’t necessarily relate to the nauseatingly patriotic […]

The Dyatlov Pass Incident (aka The Devil’s Pass) (2013)

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master’ (1988) ‘The Adventures of Ford Fairlane’ (1990) ‘Die Hard 2′ (1990) Cliffhanger’ (1993) What do all these awesome movies have in common? Finnish director Renny Harlin, that’s ‘what’. Harlin first caught my eye when I snuck into ‘Die Hard 2′ with a buddy (way too young, […]

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

Back through the mists of time (2006), I traipsed out to my local ‘cheapie’ theatre to catch a cinematic adaptation of the work of celebrated comic book artist/writer Frank Miller. I was curious about this…’300’… movie, that had just slid onto theatre screens,…and was getting surprisingly admirable ‘word of mouth’. I’d never read the original […]

Robocop (2014)

The original 1987 ‘Robocop’ has a special place in my twisted heart. It was another of those flicks like ‘Die Hard’ (1988) that my sweetly naive (at the time) parents put on for ‘Family Movie Night’, and effectively shocked the shit outta Young Impressionable Me. What always stands out in my memories is the ‘buzz’ […]

The Monuments Men (2014)

The true story of ‘The Monuments Men’ is a remarkable and often overlooked slice of WW2/art history. The newly released ‘Based on a True Story’ film, sadly, falls under the ‘UNremarkable’ banner. My reaction to this film surprised me, as there were so many factors that fall into categories that I like, admire and respect. […]