craiger'scinemacorner©

Full-length reviews of contemporary and classic films by

one of Western Canada's leading on-line film critics

c r a i g   j.   k o b a n

 

 

 

 

   
 

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moviequoteoftheweek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"KHHHAAAAAAN!!!"

 

William Shatner

 

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN

 

1982

 

 

 

 

 

 

CrAiGeR's

pick of the week

 

STAND UP GUYS

(R) jjj1/2

 "When guys like him, Pacino and Walken share the screen in STAND UP GUYS, it’s impossible to stray your eyes away."

 

 
 

 

 
 

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craiger'srecentreviews:

Total number of reviews in archive:

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My last appearance:

 

Fri, May 24, 2013

Top 3 STAR TREK films

 

Next

 appearance:

Fri, June 7, 2013

Subject T.B.A.

 

Previous appearances:

 

Fri, May 10, 2013

Most Anticipated Summer Movies

 

Fri, April 26, 2013

Great post-apocalyptic films

 

Fri, April 5, 2013

Great Sports Films

 

Fri, March 22, 2013

3 Essential James Franco Films

 

Fri, March 8, 2013

Spring Film Season Preview

 

Fri, Feb. 22, 2013

Oscar Predictions

 

Fri, Feb. 8, 2013

Unconventional Date Flicks

 

Fri, Jan. 25, 2013

The Best Films of 2012

 

Fri, Jan.11, 2013

The Worst Films of 2012

 

Fri, Dec. 21, 2012

Great Christmas Films

 

 

CrAiGeR's SELF-IMPOSED RATING SCALE:

 

jjjj GREAT

jjj GOOD

jj FAIR

j POOR

zero stars CRAP

 

 

DR. FILMLOVE

CrAiGeR's intro. to his web site. 

 

 

FAQ's of CrAiGeR

Answers to all those nail biting questions

 

 

CrAiGeR's REVIEW ARCHIVES

All of CrAiGeR's full-length reviews of contemporary films since Jan 2004

 

 

CrAiGeR's FOUR STAR REVIEWS

Listing of every FOUR STAR review that CrAiGeR has ever written (excludes retro-reviews)

 

 

CrAiGeR's WORST REVIEWS

Listing of every one and a half star or lower review that CrAiGeR has ever written

 

 

CrAiGeR's RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW ARCHIVES

CrAiGeR revisits classic films from

the past

 

 

CrAiGeR's YEARLY BEST/WORST LISTS

CrAiGeR dishes out his TEN BEST and TEN WORST films for every year since 2000

 

 

CrAiGeR's SO BAD, THEY'RE GOOD!

CrAiGeR looks at 25 films that he knows are stinkers, but still finds that they are actually kind of good

 

 

CrAiGeR's TEN MOST OVER-RATED FILMS OF ALL-TIME

CrAiGeR unleashes his list of ten films that he felt did not deserve universal fan accolades and critical praise.

 

 

CrAiGeR's TEN MOST INFLUENTIAL FILMS OF THE LAST 25 YEARS 

CrAiGeR ruminates on ten films he feels most directly influenced the business and making of movies since 1986.

 

 

 

CrAiGeR's TEN BEST FILMS of the 2000's

 

CrAiGeR's TEN BEST FILMS of the 1990's

 

CrAiGeR's TEN BEST FILMS of the 1980's

 

CrAiGeR's TEN BEST FILMS of the 1970's

 

CrAiGeR's TEN BEST FILMS of the 1960's

 

CrAiGeR's TEN BEST FILMS of the 1950's

 

CrAiGeR's TEN BEST FILMS of the 1940's

 

 

 

 

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

(PG-13) jj

Not quite boldly going where no sequel has gone before

 

After screening STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS I promptly went home and watched an episode of the original 1960’s TV series.  It was called “The Apple” and concerned the Enterprise crew visiting a strange alien planet where its denizens – primitive people with orange-tinged skin and little antennae protruding from their necks – worship an advanced machine that they believe to be a deity...

 

Posted May 22, 2013

 

UPSTREAM COLOR (no MPAA rating) jjjj

An unexplainable, indecipherable, and masterfully helmed sci-fi drama 

To write a review simply describing what occurs during the course of Shane Carruth’s UPSTREAM COLOR – his long awaited follow-up to his 2004 indie time travel film, PRIMER – is perhaps a supreme exercise in utter futility.  Maybe because, quite frankly, I did not quite fully understand what indeed was happening throughout it.  Carruth’s sophomore directorial effort is not a film that mechanically traverses from narrative point a to b and then to c,...

Posted May 22, 2013

 

TRANCE (R) jjj

The enemy of my enemy is my...wait...I can't remember

Danny Boyle’s new psychological thriller TRANCE deserves worthy comparisons to INCEPTION for how it both teases and titillates us with its reality bending narrative.  Although not nearly as conceptually brilliant or grandly staged as Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film, TRANCE nonetheless scores huge points for being a stylish, sexy, well performed, and highly energetic crime caper that keeps you involved and guessing, even when it perhaps engages in one too many plot twists for its own good....

Posted May 22, 2013

 

THE GREAT GATSBY  (PG-13) jj1/2

Make that the decidedly so-so Gatsby

I can definitely see director Baz Luhrmann’s unending passion for the underlining material of THE GREAT GATSBY, which, of course, is based on the iconic 1925 novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  The novel – adapted to the screen far too many times to keep track – is considered one of the great American literary works about Jazz Age-centric wanton decadence and materialism while providing a cautionary message about the nature of achieving the American Dream via the unruliness of youthful ambition run amok...

Posted May 15, 2013

 

MAMA  (PG-13) jj1/2

Paranormal maternal instincts

If you're a bit overwhelmed by the recent onslaught of rampant and excessive hack and slash gore that permeates modern horror thrillers – as I certainly am - then MAMA might be right up your alley. It’s the brainchild of Andres Muschietti, based on his 2008 short film of the same name that caught the attention of executive producer Guillermo del Toro, a director in his own right that certainly knows a thing or two about supernatural scarefests...

Posted May 15, 2013

 

IRON MAN 3  (PG-13) jjj

"You know, it's moments like these when I realize how much of a superhero I am."

 

When we last saw Stark - the former billionaire weapons profiteer turned metal clad super hero - he was flying in and out of an inter-dimensional wormhole with a nuclear bomb, thus saving all of New York from total annihilation from a hostile alien invasion in THE AVENGERS.  He made it out of that deadly encounter alive and just as arrogant and slyly motormouthed as ever, but now the engineering genius and filthy rich playboy has serious bouts with post-traumatic stress...

 

Posted May 7, 2013

 

PAIN AND GAIN  (R) jj1/2

A Michael Bay effort that leans a bit more towards pain and less towards gain

 

PAIN AND GAIN represents – at least as much as he would assure you – an attempt by director Michael Bay to work outside of his comfort window of massive destruction, wanton excess, extraterrestrial robots and screaming Shia Labeoufs.  Even though the film’s fact-based storyline and its theme of the madness of achieving the American Dream by any stupid means necessary are perversely engaging...

 

Posted May 7, 2013

 

THE BIG WEDDING  (R) j1/2

You'll be thankful that you're not invited

At one point in THE BIG WEDDING Robert De Niro – in response to a thorny question – emphatically replies, “I’d rather gouge out my eyes with hot spoons.”  That rather blunt retort sums up what I'd rather do than see this film ever again.  Enduring THE BIG WEDDING is an awful lot like being forced against your will to attend the nuptials of people you loathe...

Posted May 7, 2013

 

UPSIDE DOWN (PG-13) jjj1/2

A literally topsy-turvy fantasy of wondrous spectacle

There are so very few films these days that have a sort of audaciousness of spirit and a sense of limitless ambition.  UPSIDE DOWN is just one of those efforts.  Here’s a film that fuses together an ageless tale of forbidden romance, thanklessly strong visual effects, and a remarkably novel premise that certainly is unlike anything that I’ve seen before.  It would be very easy to pick apart the science at the heart of UPSIDE DOWN...

Posted May 7, 2013

 
 

42 (PG-13) jj1/2

A legendary baseball player gets a less-than-legendary film treatment

In 1946 there were 400 players in Major League Baseball.  All of them were white.  In 1947, that number was reduced to 399 because of the landmark appearance of Jackie Robinson, who became the first African American to play in the big leagues since 1884.  It’s impossible to overstate the historical significance of Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers when he did, because it started a slow, but inevitable chain reaction in professional sports where more black players were able to cross color lines...

Posted April 25, 2013

 

JURASSIC PARK 3D

(PG-13) jjj

The T-rex is now much closer than he appears 

 

I fondly remember my senior year in high school picking up a soft cover copy of Michael Crichton’s sci-fi novel JURASSIC PARK without having any idea what it was about, other than it involved dinosaurs in some capacity.  I devoured it in days, partially because I needed to for a Biology class presentation, but mostly because it was conceptually unlike anything I’ve ever read...

 

Posted April 25, 2013

 

THE HOST (PG-13) 1/2j

I'm a schizophrenic teenage alien from outer space...and so am I

If the intentions of the makers of THE HOST were to make an uproarious comedy, then the resulting film is a spectacular success.  However, I sincerely doubt that this was their prime goal.  The film comes from the literary mind of Stephenie Meyer (who penned the mega popular TWILIGHT novels, which in turn became an ultra popular film series) and was adapted to the big screen by the competent hand of writer/director Andrew Niccol...

Posted April 16, 2013

 

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

(R) jjjj

How past sins haunt the present day

From its bravura opening steady cam tracking shot to its final hauntingly melancholic image – both of which feature anxiety-plagued souls on motorcycles - THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES cements 38-year-old writer/director Derek Cianfrance as a powerful new filmmaker in American cinema.  His previous film, the engrossing and authentically rendered family drama BLUE VALENTINE (which I p laced high on my Top Ten Films of 2010 list) marked the arrival of a kind of director that just does not seem in abundance anymore...

Posted April 16, 2013

 

STOKER (R) jjj1/2

Even Dr. Phil couldn't save this doomed family unit

 

STOKER is not your usual horror film in the sense that it places far more emphasis on being a cerebral experience by honing in on psychological dread.  Its whole macabre and deeply unsettling atmosphere is what sets itself far apart from other splattergorium efforts that mindlessly flail blood and gore at the screen.  It showcases a sad and dysfunctional family unit...

 

Posted April 10, 2013

 

QUARTET (PG-13) jjj

An enjoyably lightweight dramedy that strikes predictable notes

QUARTET is a film of some odd and nagging contradictions.  It’s sweet natured, but slight.  It’s enjoyable, but disposable.  Its setting is unique, but has an aura of overt familiarity to it.  It’s resoundingly well performed, but by actors whom have all done considerably better.  Yet, there’s no denying that the film – which marks the directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman, who has made an iconic name for himself as an actor for nearly five decades – has its inherent whimsical charms...

Posted April 10, 2013

 

GI JOE: RETALIATION

(PG-13) j1/2

A near-two hour Hasbro commercial

Of all of the films that I’ve seen based on a very famous and much cherished Hasbro-made militaristic toy line from my childhood, G.I. JOE: RETALIATION is by far the worst.  It’s highly fitting, then, that this film is as lifeless as the original 3 and ľ inch scale action figures of my innocent youth.  As a sequel to the slightly better and a bit more tolerable G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA from 2009, this film comes off even more this time as a mass marketed entity to shamelessly sell a product and familiar brand...

Posted April 3, 2013

 

SPRING BREAKERS (R) jjj1/2

Girls gone wild...really, really wild

Judging by the film’s trailer and most of its advance advertising, SPRING BREAKERS looked like it was going to be yet another in a long list of beach party films where young swimsuit-clad people causally throw all of their inhibitions to the wind and engage in all sorts of unsavory behavior.  To be fair, the opening sections of writer/director Harmony Korine’s film does appear to offer just that: cheap and sensationalistic titillation...

Posted April 3, 2013

 

ADMISSION (PG-13) jj1/2

A romcom in need of an Ivy League script re-write

On paper, ADMISSION should have been a relatively home run.  After all, it stars two immensely likeable leads in Tiny Fey and Paul Rudd and was directed Paul Weitz, the same man that gave us the underrated IN GOOD COMPANY.  ADMISSION also contains an unendingly good premise that’s ripe for comedic exploration (the intensely competitive dog-eat-dog world of the top-tier college admissions process).  Unfortunately, all of the good will and great on-screen chemistry generated by the film’s stars is all for naught...

Posted April 3, 2013

 

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (R) R) jjj1/2

John McClane would approve

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN is one of the best DIE HARD films that does not have the words die hard in its title that I’ve ever seen.  To say that the film has a fleeting resemblance to the classic 1988 action thriller that has spawned countless inferior imitators would be a gross understatement.  Yet, the job of the film critic is to tell you (a) what the film is trying to do and (b) whether or not it succeeds at that.  OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN is most certainly a DIE HARD clone, but it’s a copycat that’s done with a slick and consummate hand...

Posted March 27, 2013

 

THE CALL (R) j1/2

Hello 911...I'd like to report a ludicrously plotted serial killer thriller

When THE CALL delves into the insular and stressful world of 911 call center operators, it’s a semi-involving and fascinating film.  When it glumly devolves into an ever-increasingly lame-brained and unintentionally funny serial killer/police procedural thriller, then it becomes a very hard pill to swallow...

Posted March 27, 2013

 

PHIL SPECTOR

(No MPAA rating) jjj

A portrait of man who was definitely guilty of loving his own image too much

So very few in the entertainment business have attained so much in life only to fall so resoundingly far as much as Phil Spector did.  He was, for the uninitiated, a revered American record producer and sound designer that made many pioneering efforts in the latter that revolutionized the industry.  As a producer, there’s almost no one that he did not work with: he collaborated with everyone from Ike and Tina Turner to the Ramones to the Beatles (he produced “Let It Be”)...

Posted March 27, 2013

 

 

 

 

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