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GOO Reviews

~ An Edmonton-based movie blog

GOO Reviews

Monthly Archives: February 2015

GR Dailies: The Walking Dead – The Distance

23 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by Thom Yee in Television

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Tags

comics, Horror, Walking Dead, Zombies

by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×11: “The Distance”

For a long time now, The Walking Dead has had a huge problem with developing a certain type of character — voices of dissent. From Dale to Andrea to Tyreese, anyone who might have had a valid opposing point and who was clearly operating as the group’s conscience in the face of unrelenting death and violence invariably ended up becoming incredibly annoying even as our heroes slowly became the monsters others should fear. It’s a change perhaps best highlighted early this season with the group’s massacre of the remaining Terminites, but one that’s been been glimpsed as early as season two’s “Nebraska” when Rick shot Dave and Tony in that bar. Right or wrong, our surviving group members have moved further and further away from the virtuous beings they would rather be and have, by now, gone pretty far down the path of straight-up murder as first resort, mostly because the Dale’s and Andrea’s and Tyreese’s tend to die out, and with them their morality. Continue reading →

Kingsman: The Secret Service

21 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Thom Yee in Films

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Tags

Action, Brit, Comedy, comics, Spy

Their Upper Lips Are Stiffer than Yours

by Thom Yee

Kingsman images courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Kingsman images courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Everybody wants to believe they’re something special. That there’s more to them, another level, that they’re just one opportunity away. And you know what? People — all people — are special. But let’s not mistake special for good. People are special, like Kristen Stewart is special, like Toyota Corollas are special. People are special like Fresca is special, but that doesn’t mean they’re useful or desirable. And besides, the world isn’t really looking for special. The world is looking for valuable. The world is looking for relevant. The world isn’t looking for more of your CO2 emissions.

There’s a specificity in the application of who and what is special that’s both heartening and just as often chilling in Kingsman: The Secret Service, even if it’s a specificity that the film never really takes time to consider.

Continue reading →

GR Dailies: The Walking Dead – Them

16 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by Thom Yee in Television

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Tags

comics, Horror, Walking Dead, Zombies

by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×10: “Them”

The very first point I ever made in assessing The Walking Dead on a weekly basis (and by extension heavily serialized fiction in general) concerned whether or not you can skip an episode and not miss anything. Especially with a show where the season’s aren’t stretched to fill out more than twenty weeks of television, it’s important (and should be a given) that every episode is vital in achieving the season’s goals. The first half of season five, which has been widely praised as a fairly drastic improvement over previous seasons, is a strong example of this as each episode had an important role in moving the needle forward in our hero’s quest for post-zombie apocalypse existence, and I’ll admit that even episodes that I didn’t like at least informed us on what’s going on or what we’re supposed to be feeling.

I’m going to say upfront that you may as well have skipped “Them”. Continue reading →

Valentine’s Day: A Comparison with Love Actually

15 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by ghcrawford in Editorials

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To some people, love doesn’t exist unless you acknowledge it in front of other people.

by Grace Crawford

valentine's day poster

Valentine’s Day images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.

 

Ah, Valentine’s Day: that most beloved or most hated day of the year, depending on your relationship status and whether or not you’re happy about it. When I was younger I used to dress all in black and declare that I was mourning the death of St. Valentine, a tradition that stopped short the first year I actually had a date that day. Because what’s life without double standards?

Like many holidays, Valentine’s Day is a time that draws out different reactions in different people. You might be in a brand-new relationship, a little shy but excited to see where it goes.

Maybe you’re a happily married couple of 20 years with two or three kids, thinking, “Gosh, life is pretty great right now.” Or (hopefully not) you might be celebrating your 50th anniversary and getting the uncomfortable thought that this other person has suddenly become a stranger to you.

But this isn’t restricted to Valentine’s Day: these scenarios merely fit in with the theme because, what, it’s a holiday to celebrate love? So’s Christmas, if you’re doing it right (because Jesus was born in the summer). So’s Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, if you’re on good terms with yours. Heck, so’s Halloween, if you like your kids and want them to be happy with obscene amounts of candy.

Continue reading →

GR Dailies: The Walking Dead – What Happened and What’s Going On

09 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by Thom Yee in Television

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Tags

comics, Horror, Walking Dead, Zombies

by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×09: “What Happened and What’s Going On”

Under normal circumstances during a zombie apocalypse, you’d be pretty happy if not thrilled to run across a guy like Tyreese in the midst of your struggles. He’s big, he’s strong, doesn’t seem particularly opinionated; he’ll be good in a fight, he’ll be useful. If there’s one thing your group probably doesn’t need through said apocalypse though, it’s another moral centre, whether it’s the quiet religious guy who slowly goes crazy or the seemingly strong character who basically acts like a freshly neutered Rottweiler until his untimely demise. For a little while, this show actually had both.

So welcome back to our Walking Dead season five coverage, and doesn’t it feel like a lifetime ago that we last met here? Continue reading →

The Grand Budapest Hotel

07 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Thom Yee in Films

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Who’s got the throat-slitter?

by Thom Yee

The Grand Budapest Hotel images courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Grand Budapest Hotel images courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

I’ve been writing reviews for long enough now that it’s one of the things I’ve become associated with amongst my circles of friends, family and confidantes, and so sometimes they’ll ask me what movie they should see. To which I, of course, recoil in shock, disbelief and horror, with the reply, “… You mean you’re not reading my reviews? You mean you’re not… keeping up with what I’m doing?!! You mean… you’re not… respecting… my work?!!!!” After a good… oh, forty minutes or so, of yelling and screaming and crying and accusing and bringing back old grudges — drama — things usually settle down, apologies are exchanged, and I get down to the dense and dangerous, blood red game of… uh, talking about movies I like.

If you ever asked me to recommend a movie for any occasion, any occasion at all, I would probably never recommend a Wes Anderson movie. Continue reading →

The Imitation Game

01 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by ghcrawford in Films

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by Grace Crawford

Images courtesy of Black Bear Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, Bristol Automotive, StudioCanal, and The Weinstein Company.

Images courtesy of Black Bear Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, Bristol Automotive, StudioCanal, and The Weinstein Company.

I’m fascinated by history. Not necessarily by the big events and the brutal coups and the bloody battles, but by the small, everyday actions that send the world — either on a personal or global level — careening onto a different path. Things like Gwyneth Paltrow stopping for a pedestrian on the morning of September 11, 2001, or Gavrilo Princip grabbing a sandwich just in time to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Individual choices, whether for good or for ill, help shape the world. There’s no way to know what ramifications our decisions will have. For example, say I’m trying to decide between pizza and a bento box for dinner. What if the pizza guy doesn’t get here in time and is fired, prompting him to start a life of crime? Or what if I slip on the ice and hurt myself walking over to the Japanese place, putting me on crutches and causing me to miss the bus — and an important meeting — two weeks from now?

Something as small as ordering pizza or going for takeout can completely change the course of an individual’s life. And yet an equally simple act — one boy giving a book of secret codes to another boy — was the spark that created the modern world.


Continue reading →

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