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Showing posts from April, 2014

Review - Draft Day

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Draft Day (2014), PG-13, 109 minutes - I must apologize, I've gotten a little behind the last couple of weeks.  My wife and I are in the process of selling our house and the last few weekends have been reserved more for yard work and de-cluttering than theater hopping.  I actually saw this film a couple weeks back when we had some rainy weather that wasn't allowing me to work on the yard. 2014 seems to be a year of resurgence for Kevin Costner.  Over the past four years, he appeared in only two films: The Company Men (2010), and last summer's Man of Steel.  Draft Day is his third film to hit theaters already in 2014 and it is only April (the others being Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and Three Days to Kill).  It also marks his return to a genre that he is arguably the king of: the sports film.   Draft Day, as one could guess by its terribly cryptic name, is about the NFL Draft and the wheelings and dealings employed by the teams involved (but focusing primarily on the Cl

Review - The Grand Budapest Hotel

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The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), R, 99 minutes - I actually saw this film a couple of weeks ago, but between trying to get our house cleaned up in preparation for putting it on the market and my excitement over Captain America: The Winter Soldier last week, I haven't had a chance to get this review together.  Wes Anderson films tend to be a bit unique and this one, revolving around The Grand Budapest Hotel and its ownership through the years is certainly no different. M. Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), concierge extraordinaire, is one of the more memorable Wes Anderson creations in my opinion.  Gustave is at the center of it all: from hiring and training Zero (Tony Revolori), a new Lobby Boy at the hotel to taking care of the hotel's guests in every way possible (yes, every way), to being bequeathed the rare 'Boy with Apple' painting by hotel owner Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) when she passes away.  The reading of her will by estate lawyer Deputy Kovacs (Jeff Goldblum) is

Review - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), PG-13, 136 minutes - Those who follow this blog will probably remember that Captain America: The Winter Soldier was the film at the top of my Most Anticipated Films of 2014 list.  For those that don't or haven't, here's a quick recap of why: it's a sequel film for one of my favorite comic book characters, and it's based on one of my favorite comic story arcs (written by my favorite comic author Ed Brubaker).  I've been eagerly anticipating this film since it was announced shortly after the success of 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger.  Probably more so than I have any other Marvel Studios film to date.  Not only did it live up to my expectations - which were extremely high as one could imagine - but it may have even surpassed them. Directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the espionage thriller genre film for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  In the afterm