Job and the Whale [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00OUVCQBQ][/pullquote] If someone were to tell you a film was a ˜Russian Epic' you might be forgiven for thinking bleak landscapes, social oppression, cold winters and big servings of vodka. In many ways that's exactly what you get in Leviathan, … [Read more...]
Review: Draft Day (2014)
1st pick drama [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00KVFHBP6][/pullquote] Eschewing the traditional sports film format, Draft Day directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Kevin Costner follows the backstage dealings of an NFL franchise before the annual draft. Since Moneyball appeared on the scene, the … [Read more...]
Review: Calvary (2014)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00JO9O392][/pullquote] Upon seeing John Michael McDonagh's Calvary as a follow-up film to his his debut The Guard, the latter seems almost farcical in its comedy. Any concerns that he is a one-trick pony director is quickly dispelled from the opening scene. Where The … [Read more...]
Review: Begin Again (2013)
John Carney's 2006 musical romance Once was a genuine delight, a sweet-hearted surprise of a film about a Dublin busker and the immigrant woman he falls in love with, punctuated with songs. … [Read more...]
Review: A Long Way Down (2014)
The suicide squad [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00J36357M][/pullquote] Based on a novel by Nick Hornby of the same name A Long Way Down is a high-concept comedy drama about a group of four suicidal people. … [Read more...]
Review: Good Night, And Good Luck. (2005)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B002C4I10I][/pullquote] Set during the McCarthy-era USA Good Night, and Good Luck covers the battle between journalistic integrity and the overt bullying tactics of HUAC and the hunt for communist sympathizers during the Cold War. Directed by and co-staring George … [Read more...]
Review: Devil’s Knot (2013)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00J0IPLBQ][/pullquote] You might ask what the point is of a dramatized version of the infamous story of the West Memphis 3? There are already a series of excellent documentary films, notably West of Memphis and Paradise Lost 3, which have both been nominated for … [Read more...]
Review: Boyhood (2014)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00LHTGJZI][/pullquote] As film concepts go, Richard Linklater's idea for Boyhood is a brilliant one. Filmed between 2002 and 2013 in short bursts each year, it's the story of Mason, an American kid growing up, following him from pre-school to his first day of … [Read more...]
Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
The Apes of Wrath [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00DHJTCPK][/pullquote] It took ten years worth of work to help Rupert Wyatt reboot the ailing Planet of the Apes franchise. In the clunkily-titled Rise of the Planet of the Apes audiences saw a blockbuster hit arrive almost unannounced in the summer … [Read more...]
Review: Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Bohemian Rhapsody [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00IKMC0YO][/pullquote] Cult directors don't get much more cult than Jim Jarmusch and who better than the bequiffed auteur to breathe new life into that tiredest of genres, the vampire film. … [Read more...]