Thom’s 2014

10 Saturday Jan 2015

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Year-End Review

“Hey.”

As I look back on the year that’s passed, I remember 2014 as the year that got away. Maybe a year that never truly arrived. A year typified if not consumed by betrayal and treason and murder in the nights and days of our discontent(s). A year of modest beginnings, false starts, and the hollow hopes of misinformed adventure. A year of paralysis and failure in direct spite of foolish hopes and inexplicable dreams. A year best left forgotten.

But then… that’s usually how I remember every year.

From a cultural perspective — by which I mean movies, not like, art or symphonies or anything like that — 2014 marked several turning points, including possibly the two best Marvel Studios movies of all time, hopefully the final Peter-Jackson-helmed piece of Tolkien lore, the first time America got Godzilla anywhere near right, and the triumphant return of the X-Men to theatres, in between bouts of profundity (Interstellar), pain (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), achievement (Boyhood) and intense malaise (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

And none of it met my expectations. Continue reading →

Guest Review: Downton Abbey Season Five Premiere

03 Saturday Jan 2015

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By Nicole Starker Campbell

Image courtesy of PBS

Image courtesy of PBS

I’ll admit I’m a sucker for a good period drama. Pride & Prejudice, The Piano, The Room with a View, I love them all. And while a movie lasts only about two hours, Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey is the period drama fix that blessedly stretches from week to week. I desperately wish for more than eight episodes in a season, but it does keep viewers like me hungry for more.

Fans will be able to get their fix when season five of the British drama premieres tomorrow night on PBS. The full season has already aired overseas.

Continue reading →

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

21 Sunday Dec 2014

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by Grace Crawford

Images courtesy of New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, WingNut Films, and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Images courtesy of New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, WingNut Films, and Warner Bros. Pictures.

I don’t think I’m what you could call a hardcore fan of The Lord of the Rings. I mean, yeah, I watched and loved the Peter Jackson movies like everyone else, and I’ve sat through more than one extended edition marathon.

But I barely know how to spell The Silmarillion, much less know what it is, and I keep calling that Westmarch one the Red Book of Dorne, which is completely wrong because I’m mixing up high fantasy universes and they should revoke my nerd card immediately and ban me from attending conventions ever again.

So I don’t think you could call me a fan by any definition of the word. I do, however, enjoy the movies immensely — so much so that I went to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies last night in the VIP theatre. (Pro tip: do that. They bring you food, like right to your chair.)

But this is not a plug for movie theatres and their rising standards. This is me talking about the movie I saw, my impressions of the franchise, and what I think comes next. So let’s take an unexpected journey, shall we?

Continue reading →

Quick Hits 2014

13 Saturday Dec 2014

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reviews by Thom Yee

Sometimes we run out of time for a full review, sometimes release dates don’t fit into our schedule, and sometimes we just don’t have much to say about the things we’ve just watched. Here are some quick reviews of some of 2014’s bigger – but not big enough – movies.

 

Boyhood

Boyhood images courtesy of IFC Films

Boyhood images courtesy of IFC Films

In many ways a towering achievement in filmmaking and in many more ways a simple, straightforward film about growing up, Boyhood is a strong work from every reasonable perspective, but is obviously most notable for its production schedule. Shot over the course of twelve (12!) years, the ambition of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is almost staggering, particularly considering that the key figures in the movie’s production were far from stagnant in the intervening time — director Linklater delivered prolific work, including mainstream hits like School of Rock and the final two installments in his romantic drama series, Before Sunset and Before Midnight; Ethan Hawke, who plays the father in Boyhood, starred in more than twenty movies (even if nobody actually saw them); and even Ellar Coltrane, the boy himself, had roles in several other films throughout the teen years that formed the basis of his onscreen time in this film. It’s the sheer audacity of the concept combined with coherent storytelling that makes Boyhood one of the most notable movies of 2014.

Continue reading →

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

08 Monday Dec 2014

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by Grace Crawford

Images courtesy of Lionsgate.

Images courtesy of Lionsgate.

Well, hello there! Bet you weren’t expecting a review from me. But I figured I’d swing by during my fall hiatus and let you know what I thought of Mockingjay Part 1, the third instalment of the Hunger Games trilogy-that’s-actually-a-series-now-and-what’s-it-even-called-when-it’s-four-of-something-anyway.

In Mockingjay Part 1, Katniss Everdeen is struggling to cope with life now that District 12 has been destroyed and all of Panem is in open rebellion. She’s expected to be the Mockingjay, the face of the revolution, but it’s proving difficult when every minute is plagued by the thought of Peeta and the other tributes being tortured in the Capitol.

She manages to pull through in splendid fashion, using her innate awesomeness to be the Mockingjay and rally the country behind the flag of President Coin and District 13. There’s also some emotional stuff with Gale, who’s drifting further away from her and being fairly nasty about it.

Continue reading →

GR Dailies: The Walking Dead – Coda

01 Monday Dec 2014

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review by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×08: “Coda”

I don’t think what I’m feeling about last night’s midseason-ending episode is schaudenfreude, a sense of pleasure from the suffering of others, because it’s not the suffering that I’m enjoying, and I don’t think it’s survivor’s guilt, because it’s not my survival that superseded other real people. But I am very glad about who died in “Coda”, and I do feel a little bit guilty about how hard I’ve come down on that person in the very recent past.

So the big news this week in the land of the walking, roaming, lurking, biting geeks is that Beth is dead, killed almost by an accident largely of her own doing as our heroes went through with their plan to trade the two cops they were holding hostage for Beth and Carol instead of just killing everyone like they should’ve. Continue reading →

John Wick

29 Saturday Nov 2014

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Revenge is a dish best served with super-cool action style

review by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment, Entertainment One Films, and Warner Bros. Pictures

Images courtesy of Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment, Entertainment One Films, and Warner Bros. Pictures

What if somebody snuck into your home… killed your wife and kids? You wouldn’t be okay with it and you wouldn’t adjust to it. You wouldn’t want to see the killer brought to justice, you’d want to kill them with your bare hands. Brutally, slowly, dramatically, maybe carried out over the course of days as you kept the killer just this side of death, begging you to just let him die. You’d want revenge. It wouldn’t be good or right or fair. But it would feel so. F*cking. Good.

That’s basically John Wick. Only replace the word “wife” with “dog” and the word “kids” with “stole your car”.

For a number of reasons, I was fairly certain that I was never going to see John Wick. I’m at an age where I can directly remember movies like Speed and Johnny Mnemonic, and I can also directly remember never wanting to see those movies. Continue reading →

GR Dailies: The Walking Dead – Crossed

24 Monday Nov 2014

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review by Thom Yee

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

Images courtesy of AMC and Fox International Channels.

5×07: “Crossed”

Possibly for the first time ever, we begin the latest episode of The Walking Dead with three separate storylines, each of which are stories that most viewers would actually wanted to follow. We’ve got our group’s hospital infiltration, Beth and Carol’s continuing adventures in the hospital, and Abraham’s road trip (plus the usual “Carl isn’t old enough to come along” sidestory). Of the three, Abraham’s group draws the short straw, where the only even mildly notable things that happen are some minor character development for Rosita, some fishing, the discovery of a yo-yo, and Tara further exposing her terrible sense of humour (more from her apparent lack of wit than the Gallows direction she’s trying to take). I’m starting to feel a little guilty for how hard I’ve come down on Beth, mostly because Tara also deserves a fair amount of that animosity if not the majority. What a horrible, useless addition to the group. Continue reading →