Overpriced Popcorn

Introduction The biggest buzz in movie news these days is the release of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The film slammed the box office this weekend, dominating in a way that even its predecessors in the Lord of the Rings trilogy did not. The film pulled in nearly $223 million at the box office its opening weekend, and that was with a traditional Friday opening rather than the oh-so-trendy "Wednesday opening to pad the numbers" tactic. The movie is news for several reasons. The obvious, of course, is that it's the long-awaited completion of the story of the Baggins clan as written by J.R.R. Tolkien, an adaptation of the prelude (not prequel, for this book was in fact written first) to the longer, epic Lord of the Rings. The second is Jackson's decision to shoot the film in 48 fps "High Frame Rate" (or HFR) format. For around 100 years now, films have been shot in 24 frames per second; the argument in favor of HFR is that the faster...

Okay, perhaps I was a bit premature in announcing the closing of this blog, but this is a review I had to write.   It doesn't use my usual Good/Bad/Ugly standard, but I beg your indulgence on that. So last night my wife Julie was working late and I decided to go to the movies by myself, which I do on occasion - I rather enjoy the experience. I went to see Cloud Atlas , and I absolutely had to write something about it. Cloud Atlas was written and directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. It was adapted from the 2004 novel of the same name by David Mitchell and stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, James D'Arcy, Jim Broadbent, Susan Sarandon, and a veritable who's who of other character actors in a stellar ensemble cast. It is, at a budget of over 100 million dollars, one of the most expensive independent films ever made. I am not exaggerating when I say I think this was one of the greatest films I've ever seen. Certainly some of the ...

I have decided, at least for now, to end this blog. Why?  There are several reasons.  Firstly, I have only 13 followers here. Word of mouth never took off to get me enough followers to make it worth continuing on. Second, movie-going enough to maintain a film review blog is beyond expensive. I just don't have the funds to pursue it. I'd need to have people send me to the movies to review films they want me to review, which would require donations from followers, which, see "only 13 followers," above. Finally, a lot of times after I do go to see a movie, I just don't sit down to write the requisite review, which is my fault, but if it's not going to get done, well, there you have it.  I'm sorry to those of you who enjoy the blog. I'd like to continue it, but I just don't have the cash combined with the time and energy to be an independent film reviewer. I'll leave the reviews I have written up, and maybe from time to time I'll post s...

So I have been very neglectful of my blogs over the past, oh, year or two. My postings have been infrequent at best. The reason for this, as many of you know, is that I've been going through a very dark place in my life. Very stressful, very depressing, just generally not a good place to be. Thanks to the mercy of St. John's Wort, I got to a point where I could cope, but I still wasn't getting things done outside of my soul-crushing job at the time. That's all changing. I am at a new job now, and so far it's going great. It was a major step up, a lot of really nice people, but a lot to learn and a ton of new responsibility. As such, I'm much happier, but I'm also tired a lot from all the learning. Still, the positive outlook gives me more energy to spare, and just in time, as I've got some new projects coming to fruition to which I need to devote time and energy. What this means is, I'm really hoping to kick my blogging back up soon. So I appreciate ...

Introduction It's been a whopping thirty-three years since Dan O'Bannon and Ridley Scott gave us a seminal film in both the science fiction and horror genres: the classic (some say masterpiece) Alien . The film was not only a commercial success, but has gone on to near universal accolades, including a laundry list of award nominations and wins in 1979. Wins include the 1979 Oscar for visual effects, and a nod for art direction.  It won Saturn Awards for best sci-fi film, best director, supporting actress, and got a nod for Sigourney Weaver.  It also was nominated for best makeup, special effects, and writing. I could go on--there were nominations for the BAFTAs, Hugo Awards, Golden Globes and on and on and on. The film spawned three sequels and two spin-offs with "Sister" franchise, Predator .  In general, and with the arguable exception of Aliens , the sequels are all considered generally inferior to the original. Aliens is an interesting case, in that it smartly...

Introduction First things first: I apologize for the lateness of this review. I saw this flick opening night, but life has been crazy the past week. That being said… Every once in awhile a film comes along that ignites a true craze, becomes a true phenomenon, and takes the idea of “phenomenon” to the next level. In my life there have been several. The first one I remember, of course, was Star Wars. The science fantasy epics by George Lucas and Co. ignited mainstream fandom in a way I don’t think anything else ever had. The original trilogy was the first true motion picture phenomenon that I can think of, though I’m sure arguments could be made for some other, earlier films. The next one that I remember was Tim Burton’s Batman. The Indiana Jones films were wildly popular, but Batman swept the nation with such a craze that it was dubbed “Bat-mania.” This was the first big-budget and dark superhero film, and the first one beyond Superman that took comic books as a serious prop...

Sorry for the lack of posting; as everyone’s no doubt aware, movie going is an expensive hobby these days, and money is nigh onto nonexistent for me at the moment.  However, there are a veritable spate of awesome-looking flicks coming out over the next three months, so hopefully, and with any luck, you’ll see a lot of reviews coming out from this site in the coming weeks. In the meanwhile, maybe I’ll throw out a few reviews of films on Blu Ray, DVD, and Netflix, just to keep things going. Also, please continue to spread the word about OP—I really need more followers to get this to take off. I have plans, but those plans can only come to fruition if I have visibility out there. If you’ve got a Facebook profile, blog, website, whatever, please link back to Overpriced Popcorn and tell people to follow!  All you need is a Google account to do so, and really…who doesn’t have a Google account these days? Thanks!

Introduction In 2007, Marvel comics continued its assault on the world box office with the release of Ghost Rider, a film based on one of their darker properties. In it, a cocky, Evel-Knievel-like stunt rider named Johnny Blaze (portrayed by Nicholas Cage) makes a deal with the devil to save his critically ill father, and in so doing becomes possessed by a demon that, whenever he is in the presence of evil, transforms him into the Ghost Rider, a spirit of vengeance with a flaming skull for a head. The Rider is hungry for the souls of sinners, and has no sense of scale—if you’ve done something shameful, he’ll swallow your soul and send you screaming to Hell.  Of course, Blaze hates being the Devil’s man-bitch and constantly fights against the demon inside (like any good Marvel character), but even in serving Hell, he is doing good work by sending evildoers Down Below.  I described Ghost Rider to my wife Julie as “the Crow meets Spawn,” and if you’re completely unfamiliar ...

Introduction Let’s face it: I know you’ve all been dying to have me review Wrath of the Titans .  I know; I hear your cries of desperate desire, and I throw myself in front of the bus for you. So here’s how it happened: Yesterday morning, for some odd reason, I was struck with an overwhelming desire to be sitting at the café at Barnes & Noble. No idea why, but it stuck with me all day.  So after work yesterday I decided to head down to the Waterfront to do just that, and maybe get some writing done.  For those not from Pittsburgh, the Waterfront is a development that contains a huge shopping plaza there.  I hesitate to call it a strip mall because it’s really not a strip.  It’s more like a full-on mall, just not in a building. There is an AMC Lowe’s movie theater there, which while the most expensive theater in the area, also has the best projection, the biggest screens, it’s just the highest quality theater in the area.  In addition, there’s...

There’s a lot of things and people in the film industry right now that it’s become somewhat chic to hate.  For many of them, there’s strong and valid reasons to hate them. However, I’d like to post in defense of a few things. First up, Michael Bay.  People—especially those in the SF/F fan community—love to hate Michael Bay.  Yet, his movies make millions upon millions of dollars and to my mind the hatred of him seems unreasoning. I’m going to go out on a limb that will likely place me at odds with the rest of the geek community and say I actually dig Michael Bay.  Unlike many, when I hear he’s attached to a film, especially a licensed project, my first reaction is usually “thank God.” I’ll admit to some (pretty serious) trepidation about his altering of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to be aliens rather than earthly mutants, but in the end I think raging about it because the word “mutant” is in the title is foolish, and it doesn’t mean that the film is going t...

So the only two flicks coming out this weekend are Mirror, Mirror and Wrath of the Titans, neither of which I have any real desire to see.  For once I’ll agree with a local film critic, Sean Collier, and say that Wrath of the Titans is the sequel that nobody asked for.  Based on the trailer I kind of wanted to see it for a hot minute, then I remembered how much I hated the remake of Clash of the Titans, and came to my senses. As far as Mirror, Mirror goes, it looks just too tongue-in-cheek to me.  I like my fairy tales darker and less Disney (except for the awesome TV series Once Upon a Time, which is both Disney and dark, and if you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out). So I’ll wait for Snow White and the Huntsman for that. For anyone who was hoping I’d review one of these pictures, sorry—movie going is a rather expensive hobby these days and right now this site isn’t supporting itself.  If I ever get enough followers I may introduce a “send me to the movies” ...

http:// thejohncarterfiles.com /2012/03/john-carter-an-open-letter-to- walt - disney -studios-chairman- richard -ross/ The following is an open letter to Rich Ross, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, regarding John Carter. It is a sincere request for Disney senior management to address in a public and meaningful way the many questions that remain unanswered concerning Disney’s handling of the the marketing and release of John Carter. Readers are invited to use the comment function to ask their own questions and leave comments. ... The excerpt above is the beginning of the linked article, and is well worth a read for any among us who are flabbergasted at the apparent abject failure of John Carter in the theater, given just how well-done the film was.  There's no reason nor excuse for this to have not been one of the biggest film events of the year (Hunger Games and Avengers notwithstanding), and it's pretty much a foregone conclusion (all but universally accepted) at this poi...

FIRST THINGS FIRST: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW – It’s necessary to discuss the text-to-screen adaptation. So if you’re avoiding spoilage, you might give the details of this one a pass after the introduction, then skip to the conclusion and rating for a generalized, spoiler-free summary. Introduction Well, amid much fanfare, The Hunger Games opened this weekend to record-breaking numbers.  I feel a sense of strange personal satisfaction in that it completely left the Twilight series in the dust—it shows that tweens and young adults are indeed reading good fiction as well as bad.  As with thousands upon thousands of others, I was there opening night (actual opening night, not the Thursday midnight showing—at my age work trumps late night movies, much as I wish it weren’t so). Before I dive into the review of the film, let me just say something to all those haughty, snobbish people in fandom who are whining that they “liked it better when it was Battle Roya...