Opening This Week: Frozen Nationwide - "Frozen" is lighthearted and funny when it wants to be—true to form for the best of Disney's animated films, humor derives timelessly from clever writing and keen character interactions rather than a stream of pop-cultural references—but its dramatic core is where it gets its strength and durability. Oldboy Nationwide - The puzzle pieces not consistently making sense or adding up becomes a hindrance by the climax, at once too exposition-heavy and taciturn for its own good. If the film's successive missteps are frustrating, though, it is because the rest of "Oldboy" has a dangerously irresistible ambience difficult to deny or resist. More Retro-Reviews: I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" is too pat by a half during the finale, but Tyler Perry shows a maturity as a filmmaker that would pave the way for arguably his best picture, 2010's "For Colored Girls." Madea Goes to Jail (2009) A half-silly/half-moralistic story about how it is never too late to turn things around, "Madea Goes to Jail" is as wispy as whipped cream, but also as easy to consume. The latest additions to this new section of the site include: "Despicable Me 2," "Saturn 3," "Paradise," "Mickey's Christmas Carol," "Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year" and "Monsters University." |
© 2013 Dustin Putman |
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Thanksgiving movies
Friday, November 22, 2013
Movies this weekend
Opening This Week: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Nationwide - "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" has far more on its mind than ornate costumes and CGI effects, and this is what finally lifts the movie above its more mundane trappings. Nebraska Select Cities - At the picture's center are average guys Woody and David, a father and son joined together by so much more than blood. "Nebraska" is a moving little slice-of-life gem, unassumingly big in existential significance. The latest additions to this new section of the site include: "Saturn 3," "Paradise," "Mickey's Christmas Carol," "Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year" and "Monsters University." |
© 2013 Dustin Putman |
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Movies
Dustin Putman's Movie Reviews |
Opening This Week: Dallas Buyers Club ★★★ (out of ★★★★) Select Cities - "Dallas Buyers Club" is a moving, always mature account of a personal story that warrants attention. Breathing crucial vitality into a fallible figure withering away even as he regains his dignity, McConaughey has scarcely, if ever, been better. Read the Full Review >> The Starving Games Zero Stars (out of ★★★★) Select Cities & VOD - A parody of 2012's "The Hunger Games" without a solitary laugh to be mustered, "The Starving Games" is 83 minutes of rancorous stereotyping, lame bathroom gags and aimless, often bafflingly outdated film references. Read the Full Review >> Thor: The Dark World ★★ (out of ★★★★) Nationwide - "Thor: The Dark World" might technically be larger in scope, but it is also grindingly frivolous and pedestrian in the extreme. It isn't an obvious disaster, but its undeniable mediocrity is just as disappointing as if it were outright terrible. Read the Full Review >> The latest additions to this new section of the site include: "Paradise," "Mickey's Christmas Carol," "Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year"and "Monsters University." Dustin's Blu-ray Reviews >> |
© 2013 Dustin Putman |
Friday, November 1, 2013
Fall movies this weekend
Opening This Week: About Time ★★½ (out of ★★★★) Nationwide - A time-traveling love story between a man and a woman, and a father and a son, "About Time" packs a few emotional wallops into an ethically muddled tale better in its ensemble chemistry than its admittedly meandering narrative. Read the Full Review >> Ender's Game ★★½ (out of ★★★★) Nationwide - Based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card and adapted for the screen by writer-director Gavin Hood, "Ender's Game" is an acute, surprisingly timely coming-of-age adventure, but one that only truly gets going and takes a turn into deeper, more perceptive thematic territory in the final stretch. Read the Full Review >> Free Birds ★★½ (out of ★★★★) Nationwide - Poppy and entertaining, this computer-animated jaunt is mighty irreverent, a tonal cousin to the "Shrek" series in the way it appeals to grown-ups privy to all the slyly acerbic jokes going over the younger audience members' heads. Read the Full Review >> My new book, THE FRIGHT FILE: 150 FILMS TO SEE BEFORE HALLOWEEN, is NOW AVAILABLE onAmazon.com and on Amazon Kindle! Sure, you might not be able to catch them all before this October 31st, but the dawn brings 364 more movie nights that are still "Before Halloween!" Read More & Buy Now! >> The latest additions to this new section of the site include:"Monsters University," "The Colony," "Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear," "Static" and "The Little Mermaid." Dustin's Blu-ray Reviews >> |
© 2013 Dustin Putman |
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