Movie Review: The Island (2005)

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Brian Wright

Another ‘Minority Report’ future: pessimistic but unfortunately plausible (7/10)

The first summer I was in the Free State in a little bucolic hill town of New Boston, and without my NetFlix, it was easiest to travel half a mile down the old highway to New Boston Pizza and Video… Nice folks with a small store that still carried a pretty wide assortment of VHS video tapes. The cover of this movie caught my eye; the studio was trying to sell it as a high-octane action movie.

Which the second half of the movie is.

But fundamentally The Island is a science fiction movie that deals with some fairly controversial ideas in an intelligent fashion. Unfortunately, it fails to rise above the stereotypical “Don’t fool with Mother Nature” attitude toward technologies that promise human life extension and/or life enhancement. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Brian Wright

Lush tribute to the soul (and body) of New Orleans

Lawson Pines: Some people reach a place in time where they’ve gone as far as they can. A place where wives and jobs collide with desire. That which is unknowable and those who remain out of sight. See what it is invisible and you will see what to write. That’s how Bobby used to put it. It was the invisible people he wanted to live with. The ones that we walk past everyday, the ones we sometimes become. The ones in books who live only in someone’s mind’s eye. He was a man who was destined to go through life and not around it. A man who was sure the shortest path to Heaven was straight through Hell. But the truth of his handicap lay only in a mind both exalted and crippled by too many stories and the path he chose to become one. Bobby Long’s tragic flaw was his romance with all that he saw. And I guess if people want to believe in some form of justice, then Bobby Long got his for a song. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Don Jon (2013)

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Brian Wright

Modern morality comedy in candid setting ___ 8.5/10

Don Jon is another Netflix pic that panned out nicely.

[Who goes out to the movies anymore? Last time yours truly took in the silver screen up close and personal was to watch Atlas Shrugged III. To make it an official night at the cineplex I ordered a MEDIUM cola and MEDIUM popcorn… then walked away, I think it was, $12 poorer! Yikes! They need to surround the concession stands with yellow tape as a crime scene.]

But back to the movie at hand. The IMDb blurb says, “A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.” So I expected it to be on the frank, perhaps even raw, side, but I’ve always liked Gordon-Levitt’s movies where he’s an actor—since Brick (2005), The Lookout (2007), and especially (500) Days of Summer (2009)—and this one he also writes and directs. So I put my offensiveness meter on standby and gave Don Jon a fair shake, so to speak.:) Not the kind of movie to watch with one’s parents… or one’s kids. Continue reading →

Movie Review: We Bought a Zoo (2011)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Brian Wright

Family fare with a Waltonian pickmeup _ 8/10
Review by Brian Wright

Benjamin Mee: You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

Lily Miska: [to Kelly during the opening of the zoo] If you had to choose between people and animals, who would you pick?
[Kelly doesn’t answer]
Lily Miska: Me, too. People! Continue reading →