This review originally appeared on KTKA-TV and KSNT-TV, Kansas First News. Your ability to accept or not accept convenient plot devices and the ultimate sports movie formula will absolutely color your opinion of “Warrior.” A high-school teacher facing foreclosure on his family home and a haunted Iraq vet enter the same mixed martial arts tournament, […]
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This movie review of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” appears on KTKA-49. The first “Transformers” movie was basically an absurdist teen sex comedy featuring sentient cars that turn into robots and some silly go-for-broke rewriting of American history. Its 2009 sequel was a more serious, more ridiculous, less fun version that lasted 2 ½ hours […]
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This review of “Super 8” appears on KTKA-49. J.J. Abrams channels his inner Spielberg, with help from the blockbuster maestro of the 80s who served as producer, on “Super 8,” a refreshing change of pace for summer flicks. It’s just too bad that Abrams has made such a big deal about not letting any secrets […]
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For 1 Year, 100 Movies, contributor/filmmaker Trey Hock is watching all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year. His reactions to each film are recorded here twice a week until the year (and list) is up! Most long-lived films have stories that are, at least in part, timeless. They […]
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For 1 Year, 100 Movies, contributor/filmmaker Trey Hock is watching all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year. His reactions to each film are recorded here twice a week until the year (and list) is up! I am thoroughly confused. I have encountered films on AFI’s list that were […]
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I have tried in the past to argue for the power of silent films and I have offered “Modern Times,” “The Gold Rush” and “Sunrise” as possible entry points to the silent era, but “The General” is the only one of the silent films on the list that my wife, Jaime, was able to sit through from beginning to end without complaint, just an occasional delighted gasp, or laugh.
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For 1 Year, 100 Movies, contributor/filmmaker Trey Hock is watching all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year. His reactions to each film are recorded here twice a week until the year (and list) is up! Sometimes a film is a perfect storm of artistry and inspiration. When everything […]
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It’s been 11 years since Wes Craven made a “Scream” movie, and in “Scream 4,” he pokes more fun at horror conventions, updating the jabs to include the “Saw” series, among other things. Sidney Prescott (played by Neve Campbell) returns home on the 15th anniversary of the killings in the first film, but—like “Saw”—the “Stab” series of movies based on her story is on its seventh film.
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Movie review of Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch
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Here’s my review of the new Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movie “Paul” from KTKA-49. Together with director Edgar Wright, actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost created two of the funniest and most loving tributes to genre films in recent memory: The zombie spoof “Shaun of the Dead” and the action movie “Hot Fuzz.” The duo returns […]
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Topher Grace is interviewed by Scene-Stealers editor Eric Melin about “Take Me Home Tonight”
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“Cedar Rapids” (2011) straddles the line between vulgarity and sweetness—often times in the same moment. Ed Helms stars as a wide-eyed insurance agent from Wisconsin who graduates to the big leagues when he attends a national conference in an Iowa hotel.
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Here’s my review of “Blue Valentine” from KTKA-49. Movies sometimes tend to over-explain things. This person did this, which led to this, and ultimately: this happened as a result. But life doesn’t always work like that. “Blue Valentine” is a painful movie that understands that when it comes to relationships, sometimes there isn’t one defining […]
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Here’s my review of “No Strings Attached” from KTKA-49. The state of the romantic comedy these days in Hollywood is not good. Multiplexes are commonly filled with lowest-common denominator, high-concept romcoms with attractive actors who are going through the tired motions of the most banal and predictable plots around. That’s why it was such a […]
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Here’s my review of “The King’s Speech” from KTKA-49. There are many ways to make a feel-good picture, but in the movie ‘The King’s Speech,’ the personal triumph that gives audiences a warm glow happens on the national stage with everyone listening. Prince Albert, played in a wonderfully nuanced performance by Best Actor frontrunner Colin […]
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