The Longest Yard (1974)

1st View
Format: Netflix WI
Venue: Rivendell

I've made it my mission to watch more Burt Reynolds films in 2012. Why? Mustache, err uh I mean, must you ask? Anywho, as much as the remake was trashy...I kind of enjoyed it. But what will probably get me crucified is the fact that I thought there were elements of the original upon which the remake actually improved. Don't get me wrong Burt is a faaaaar better leading man than Sandler, but there are parts of the original that are downright sluggish and that is where the silly, MTV sensibilities of the remake tighten things up. All in all, the original is still quite fun.


Rating: 6/10 Atkins

Raw Deal (1986)

Revisit
Format: VHS
Venue: Rivendell

A mess from A-Z, a spectacular failure, and a personal favorite.

Rating: 6/10 Atkins

Margin Call (2011)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

My first movie of 2012, was so far the most challenging. Well-acted, well-directed, but I still don't have the first bleeding clue what the hell were the particulars of the financial crisis at the heart of the plot. They even create a moment wherein the chairman of the company is asking Quinto to explain the situation in the simplest terms, on behalf of the audience no doubt, and what comes out is still Wall Street rhetoric. Not a bad film, just terribly inaccessible. 


Rating: 6/10 Atkins

Burke and Hare (2010)

1st View
Format: DVD
Venue: Rivendell

John Landis directing a pseudo horror comedy based on true events starring Simon Pegg? All the ingredients are there for something I would truly love. However, Burke and Hare meanders lazily through its plot; things just happening in succession grounded to nothing. Utterly forgettable.


Rating: 4/10 Atkins

Fright Night (2011)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

Quite entertaining. A flawed but valiant effort that's comfortable nodding to the original without kowtowing before it. Some unfortunate CG aside, I rather liked this remake.

Rating: 7/10 Atkins

Apollo 18 (2011)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

I'm not exactly sure how one goes about so epically fumbling such an interesting concept for a horror film, but the folks behind Apollo 18 sure figured it out. Its biggest crime is that its scant 86 minute runtime is stretched to a seeming eternity by its stagnating plot. It also petulantly insists that its found footage nonsense is real, apparently unaware that IMDB exists and anyone with the internet and fingers can verify its deception.

Rating: 4/10 Atkins

The Debt (2011)

1st View
Format: Awards Screener
Venue: Rivendell

Taught, suspenseful spy thriller with classic espionage trappings, but clearly adopting post-Bourne modern spy film sensibilities. I loved it. 

Rating: 8/10 Atkins

New Year's Evil (1980)

Revisit
Format: Netflix WI
Venue: Rivendell

One of my favorite holiday slashers. Cheesy as all get out, but so entertaining despite itself. I seriously dig that theme song!

Rating: 6/10 Atkins

Final Destination 5 (2011)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

Largely more of the same from this tired, stale formula. I will say the effects look much better than they did in the fourth installment, but the dialogue and white-washed characters are no less obnoxious. The only thing that saves this entry from being entirely forgettable is its clever ending.

Rating: 5/10 Atkins

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

I had heard so many people shit on Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It has moments of absolutely irreconcilable absurdity, and it is a bit poorly paced, but it's a lot of fun. That is all I ask of a movie called Cowboys & Aliens.

Rating: 6/10 Atkins

Bridesmaids (2011)

1st View
Format: Awards Screener
Venue: Rivendell

I was very excited to see this movie. I like Kristen Wiig quite a bit and the idea of a crass all-female comedy sounded fresh and intriguing. Instead, I quickly became bored with the obnoxious reliance on female cattiness and the lazily slapped-together love story between Wiig and Chris O'Dowd; an actor I love on the British series The IT Crowd. The few chuckles the film earned, mostly thanks to Melissa McCarthy, weren't enough to keep me engaged. 


Rating: 5/10 Atkins

Drive (2011)

1st View
Format: Awards Screener
Venue: Rivendell

Nicolas Winding Refn does it again. His films are so visually unique and incredibly stylish as to elevate even the most tired genre. In Drive, he creates an almost dreamlike throwback to gritty, fiercely independent crime stories of the 70s. Great performances, stunning cinematography, terrific score, and still quite entertaining. One of the year's best.

Rating: 8/10 Atkins

The Descendants (2011)

1st View
Format: Awards Screener
Venue: Rivendell

I did not care for this awards-buzzy movie. The secondary storyline is wholly uninteresting and is resolved in a way that is completely unearned and never reconciles with the main, far more intriguing, story. All in all, I found it flat and stale...like an old soda left out overnight.


Rating: 5/10 Atkins

Rocky II (1979)

Revisit
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

Far more of a traditional studio sports film than the first; makes for a completely different level of appreciation.

Rating: 7/10 Atkins

Rocky (1976)

Revisit
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

High time for a revisit. This marked Luke Mullen's first viewing


Rating: 7/10 Atkins

Home Alone 2 (1992)

Revisit
Format: Blu--ray
Venue: Rivendell

Not as good as the first, I recognize that, but still a lot of fun and I have plenty of childhood nostalgia for the first two films in this franchise. The sequel, as with the first, contributed to creating A Very Junkfood Christmas for Film School Rejects.

Rating: 6/10 Atkins

Beginners (2010)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

A movie with its head stuck firmly up its own ass. Pretentious as pretentious films get. No thank you.

Rating: 2/10 Atkins

Our Idiot Brother (2011)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

Nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be and, in fact, fairly charming. Paul Rudd does not, as one would assume, play a total manchildish buffoon. He's just a guy who's a little naive and far too trusting of strangers as well as his highly dysfunctional family all of whom are much worse than he is but treat him as if he's the black sheep.


Rating: 7/10 Atkins

Superheroes (2011)

1st View
Format: DVD
Venue: Rivendell

Strange, uneven, but ultimately fascinating documentary about real life superheroes.

Rating: 6/10 Atkins

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell

The only film in the franchise I had not seen. Some interesting ideas, gorgeously shot, and the Whedonisms are strikingly apparent from the get-go. Not bad at all.


Rating: 6/10 Atkins