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| EFC STATS |
| Movies Listed: |
26275 |
| Total Ratings: |
247323 |
| Total Reviews: |
26430 |
![[124856232 Hits]](/cgi-bin/gd.cgi?124856232)
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| TRANSCENDENCE |
"A frustrating but intriguing debut for Wally Pfister."
Brett Gallman says... "“Transcendence” looks to be hung up on big ideas, but it’s less a ponderous thesis and more of a good keynote address: it’s flashy, attention-grabbing, full of clichés, and is sold on musings and promises, some of which it actually manages to deliver on. Most of them, however, merely serve as a platform for another technophobic vision of the apocalypse, so Wally Pfister’s directorial debut is but one of many prophets shouting in a crowded landscape." (more)
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| AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, THE |
"Swing and a..."
Daniel Kelly says... "2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” was a competent work, but its need for being never felt genuine. Repeating an origin story that a superior film-maker had spent the best part of ten years excavating, the reboot was a digestible summer commodity, but hardly a necessary re-evaluation of everyone’s favourite web-slinger. “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” doesn’t really make a great deal of progress in justifying Sony’s franchise continuation (at least artistically). The feature manages to ascertain a greater sense of personal identity than its predecessor, but the script’s a mess and much like Sam Raimi’s franchise halting “Spider-Man 3” suffers a severe faulty villain complex." (more)
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| CONGRESS, THE |
"Highly animated, though not as much as it could be."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 16: "The Congress" divides fairly naturally into three or four parts, and the Futurological Congress which gives the film is name (and was presumably much more central to Stanislas Lem's original novel) is probably the least interesting despite having the most going on. One almost wonders why filmmaker Ari Folman didn't just make a movie with everything else and cite Lem as an inspiration, because that still leaves a heck of a smart, unusual science fiction film." (more)
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| LOVE ETERNAL |
"One of the more uplifting movies about suicide you'll see."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 16: I didn't quite avoid "Love Eternal" when it played at another festival last year, but I certainly didn't have much trouble choosing what was on the other screen whenever the Irish death-fetish film was playing. I'm not saying that was a mistake - I liked the other movies I saw at Fantasia - but I was quite pleasantly surprised at how much I wound up enjoying this one." (more)
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| TRANSCENDENCE |
"At Last--This Generation's "Lawnmower Man""
Peter Sobczynski says... ""Transcendence" is a would-be technological thriller that not only utterly fails to achieve its titular state but cannot even work up the necessary oomph to make it to the level of basic competence. It has a potentially promising premise and a strong cast but both are squandered on an end product that wastes both thanks to clumsy screenwriting, listless acting and a fundamental lack of interest and insight into the issues that it raises and then abandons. Put it this way--if you ever wanted to see what a David Cronenberg movie might be like if all of the quirky, icky and genuinely thought-provoking concepts that make his films so distinctive were kicked to the curb in exchange for a jumbo-sized production budget and a star-studded cast, this is your kind of movie. For everyone else, this is one the kind of dopey potboiler that is all the more frustrating because it clearly thinks that it is smarter and more profound than it really is." (more)
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| OTHER WOMAN, THE (2014) |
"The road to hell is paved with Nicki Minaj cameos"
Daniel Kelly says... "It’s likely that director Nick Cassavetes believes “The Other Woman” to be an empowering mainstream comedy, a flick in which sisters really are doing it for themselves. The reality of the situation is different; the film an imbecilic and withered concoction of flat humour and creepy plotting. “The Other Woman” feels like a calculated attempt to offend audiences, particularly those of the fairer sex, at whom this celluloid dump has been unapologetically marketed. Its character choices and fixation with middle-class strife intensify the nausea, but ultimately it’s the witless writing that sinks the enterprise. Granted, no movie that features multiple poop gags, an impossibly gross Don Johnson subplot and a Nicki Minaj cameo has much of a chance, but a few solid rib-ticklers might just have made it bearable. Instead “The Other Woman” bungles even the easiest bursts of jesting, focusing on its overstretched narrative and deplorable consequences." (more)
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| STARRY EYES |
"Does not have to sell its soul to tell its story."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 16: I am going to guess that the makers of "Starry Eyes" have not necessarily always enjoyed their time trying to make it in L.A. Sure, just by having made this movie, they have managed to get further than their characters, but it's not hard to see the inspiration for this movie: Take everything people say in jest about what it takes to succeed in Hollywood, and mean it." (more)
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| JOE |
"Two greats do their best work in years in the same movie."
Jay Seaver says... "Look at "Joe", and you see a couple of people who haven't necessarily done their best work for the past few years. Some will say director David Gordon Green's "Prince Avalanche" was a return to form after a string of crude Hollywood comedies, but even those who liked it more than I can look at star Nicolas Cage's career and point out that just doing one good movie doesn't put things back on the right track; you've got to stick with it. And while there's no guarantee that this is the start of a good run for either, it's the best work either has done for some time, both working at the top of their game to make a terrific movie." (more)
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'WHY IS IT THAT WHEN YOU SEE MOVIES IN A THEATER TODAY THEY SEEM BIG AND LIFELESS? THE REASON IS BECAUSE THE ENERGY WAS KILLED BEFORE THE CAMERAS EVEN RAN.'
- Robert Rodrgiuez, Director
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