Archive for the 'Reviews' Category
November 19th, 2009, 9:45 am by Jayson Peters
So, what do you do when you’re dumped by both your brooding vampire boyfriend and your brooding werewolf rebound? That’s the plot of New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, the movie based on Stephenie Meyer’s first novel.
The answer, Bella Swan decides, is to throw yourself into one hazardous situation after another just to get a fleeting glimpse of your former happiness. What else?
New Moon is a tight adaptation of the novel, which was full of action, humor and some decent drama. If you can get past the long stretches of unapologetic beefcake and the accompanying girly cheers and tween hype, it doesn’t make a bad movie.
Where it suffers, unforgivably, is in its leading man. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Movies • Reviews • New Moon • Stephenie Meyer • Twilight | Post a Comment »
November 13th, 2009, 2:39 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
Hollywood’s master of disaster movies director Roland Emmerich is back this week with his newest tale of wholesale destruction, 2012. Emmerich’s previous efforts have included such destructive fare as The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla and of course, Independence Day. All of these were just practice for his latest work, however. After warming up by destroying things piecemeal with weather, giant monster lizards and aliens, he’s moved on to wrecking the entire Earth at once.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • 2012 | 3 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 5:53 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
In 2001, after bursting onto the scene and receiving critical acclaim for his mind-bending sci-fi film “Donnie Darko,” writer-director Richard Kelly stumbled badly with his 2006 follow-up “Southland Tales.” His next major project “The Box,” opening this week, achieves neither the highs, nor lows of his previous efforts. It is, however, a thought-provoking and respectable effort, that proves Kelly is a talent and “Darko” wasn’t entirely beginner’s luck.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • The Box | 3 Comments »
October 2nd, 2009, 12:08 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
Despite the abundance of gore and cannibalistic undead, “Zombieland” isn’t a horror movie. While there are a few scares and tense moments, on the whole the film is played more for laughs than for chills. Clearly taking a page from the brilliant English romantic comedy/zombie movie “Shaun of the Dead,” the characters are usually more concerned about their personal wants and needs than the ever-present threat posed by the ravenous ghouls.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • Zombies | Post a Comment »
August 22nd, 2009, 12:01 am by ebehrendt
NOTE TO READERS: Please welcome the newest member of the Nerdvana crew. Emily Behrendt is a journalist at our sister publication, the Ahwatukee Foothills News. Here she brings us a review of the long-awaited MST-ing of Plan 9 From Outer Space.
 In their Mystery Science Theater 3000 days, “Satellite of Love” partners Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett left no wise crack unturned for every cheesy B-movie that came their way.
Every B-movie, that is, except the infamous 1959 sci-fi/horror classic Plan 9 from Outer Space.
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Posted in: Horror • Movies • Reviews • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • MST3K • Rifftrax | Post a Comment »
August 21st, 2009, 12:13 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
The World War II flick “Inglourious Basterds” is clearly a product of Quentin Tarantino. His moviemaking DNA is evident throughout. Shocking moments of graphic violence? Check. Razor sharp dialogue? Check. Sly homages to notable films? Check. A divergent plot that never quite goes where you expect? Check. Most of his hallmark touches are front and center. That being said, it’s not the war movie one might expect him to make. After all, this is the director who ramped up the gore and violence to cartoonish levels in the first half of his revenge picture “Kill Bill.” Certainly the Nazis are deserving of the same treatment.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • Inglourious Basterds • Quentin tarentino | 2 Comments »
August 12th, 2009, 7:34 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
“District 9,” which hits theaters on Friday, strikes cinematic pay dirt by taking the standard science-fiction chestnut of “mankind’s first contact with aliens” and turning it on its ear. Rising from the ashes of the proposed movie adaptation of the “Halo” video game, “D-9″ director and co-writer Neill Blomkamp manages to pull off a significant feat. He actually delivers on the hype built up by a over a year’s worth of viral marketing and the patronage of producer Peter Jackson.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • District 9 | 1 Comment »
August 7th, 2009, 3:44 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 The demo for Eidos’ ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ is out this week and it’s well worth giving a try. I’ve played through it twice and it’s a lot of fun. The demo shows Batman returning the Joker back to Arkham, only to find out it’s an elaborate trap set by the Clown Prince of Crime. Now the Dark Knight must battle his way through a gauntlet of thugs, psychopaths and his greatest foes to retake the most pourous prison in comics. It’s available for free on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or PC, so you’ve got no excuse not to give it a try.
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Posted in: Gaming • PC • PlayStation 3 • Reviews • Xbox 360 • arkham asylum • Batman • demos • Joker | 1 Comment »
May 8th, 2009, 12:01 am by Jayson Peters
ZACHARY QUINTO AS SPOCK AND CHRIS PINE AS JAMES T. KIRK
Star Trek lives.
It took 11 tries, but someone finally managed to make a movie that completely captures the spirit of Gene Roddenberry’s classic “Wagon Train to the stars.”
And it’s even one of the odd-numbered ones!
J.J. Abrams has not only reinvented the original crew of the Starship Enterprise with fresh faces like Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, he’s also managed to stay true to four decades of accumulated lore. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Movies • Reviews • Star Trek | 2 Comments »
May 1st, 2009, 6:23 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
The calendar may not agree, but it is now summer. If a glance at the thermometer isn’t enough to convince you, today’s release of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” the first event movie of the season, makes it official. Unfortunately, the film lives up to the stereotypes of summer movies as well. We get an hour and 45 minutes of bad special effects, forgettable acting and violence (bloodless though! This is a PG-13 film).
The popular mutant Wolverine, a.k.a Logan, a.k.a. James Howlett (Hugh Jackman) sheds his fellow X-Men for the opportunity to take center stage and explore his life before we met him in the first X-Men movie, as well as his relationship with Sabretooth/Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber).
In between the explosions, cliches and attempts to cram in as many random mutants as possible, we learn about Wolverine’s 150-year life. We find out how he came to possess his unbreakable skeleton, claws that can cut through anything and extremely spotty memory. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Comics • Movies • Reviews • Ryan Reynolds | Post a Comment »
June 30th, 2008, 4:17 pm by Scott Kirchhofer
IMAGES COURTESY OF SEGA
Comic-book video games have always left something to be desired. That’s why in 2005 we were all happily surprised by Radical Entertainment’s The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, a great smash-em-up Hulk game in a destructible, open-world environment with a decent story and good graphics.
It’s a shame that three years later we get Sega’s follow-up The Incredible Hulk, which is basically the same game as before with a few minor improvements and a bunch of new problems.
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Posted in: Comics • Gaming • Movies • Nintendo • PlayStation 3 • Reviews • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Xbox 360 • Hulk | Post a Comment »
May 2nd, 2008, 7:09 pm by Scott Kirchhofer
IMAGES COURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS
I saw Iron Man this morning and it was amazing! After drooling for months over the images and trailers and overall hype surrounding the movie, I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise. But you really never know if a movie will be good until you see it - especially a comic book movie. And after seeing Iron Man all I can say is: YOU HAVE TO SEE IRON MAN! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Comics • Movies • Reviews • Iron Man | 2 Comments »
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