Nerd in the 'Noke

The Shawshank Redemption (1994), R, 142 minutes - On this date twenty years ago, my favorite movie of all time quietly hit theaters across the country. The funny thing is, like most people, I never saw The Shawshank Redemption in the theater and would have no idea that it would have a lasting effect on me until almost three years later when I first encountered it.  In October of 1994, I was a sophomore in high school and a substantial amount of my time was taken up by basketball or just about any other sport that caught my attention for longer than five minutes.  I was the backup point guard on the JV team that year.  I hadn't yet discovered my love for film and my love of sports dominated my free time. Looking back, my discovery of Shawshank a couple of years later was the result of a unique set of events that explain my initial draw to the film and how it has grown to become so important to me over time. "Since I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it decide...

Daredevil (2015), Netflix, 15 Episodes  - I've mentioned in some of my reviews of Marvel's films in the past that Daredevil is my favorite comic book character.  So as one may expect, I have been extremely excited about this series since it was announced a year ago.  This live action series marks Marvel's efforts in adapting one of their most critically acclaimed characters since they regained the film rights to the property from Fox in early 2013. You may remember that Fox released a Daredevil film back in 2003 starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner among others.  That film is widely considered as one of the low-points in the ever-improving genre of comic book films.  Oddly enough, that film holds a small and dear place in my heart.  At the time I really enjoyed it.  It piqued my curiosity in the character and led me to explore his comic book history.  In the time since, I have read every issue from Daredevil's fifty year publishing history...

Gone Girl (2014), R, 145 minutes - My wife and I have been extremely busy with all of the things that come with buying and selling a house.  And while we're very excited about it, the process has put a bit of a damper on our usual weekend routine (including my theater hopping habit).  Things are moving along nicely and by the end of the month we should be getting settled in our new home.  A midst all the house related craziness, I was able to sneak some time yesterday to see Gone Girl, the new David Fincher directed thriller based on Gillian Flynn's best selling novel from a couple of years ago. I had heard great things about the book and started reading it about a month ago.  I'm not the world's fastest reader and I wanted to be sure to give myself enough time to finish it before the movie came out.  I shouldn't have worried.  The novel was every bit as good as I had been told and I blew through it in a week (slowed only by life's responsibilities suc...

As some of you know my wife and I have had our house on the market since mid-April.  Things had been relatively slow moving for most of that time, but about three weeks ago that changed.  We had been actively touring many houses in the area and within days of each other we found the house that we wanted to call home for years to come and were also fortunate enough to find a buyer for our current house.  As a result of the increased buying/selling activity, I've not had the time to update the blog in that time.  I wish I could say that I just hadn't had the time to sit down to write reviews, but I actually haven't even been to the movies since my last post for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.   I would like to apologize to those who may check in regularly or periodically for the lack of new content recently.  I would also like to apologize in advance for the more than likely potential inactivity over the coming weeks as time is swallowed up by packing, (hop...

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), R, 102 minutes - Nine years after its predecessor, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For finally made its way to theaters last weekend. Those with either a keen eye or memory (or both) may remember that this film was one of the honorable mentions on my Most Anticipated Films of 2013 list. That was before further delays pushed its release to the end of this summer (and a repeat appearance on this year's list ). Sin City: A Dame to Kill For showcases the same grim, gritty, stylized violence that fans of Frank Miller's work have come to expect on either the page or the screen. Much like 2005's Sin City, the key with this film is to remember that it is an anthology, a collection of stories occurring in the same universe, even overlapping at times with the events appearing in that film.  As a result, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is not a typical sequel or prequel.  This installment is comprised of the following stories: Just Another Saturda...

Chef (2014), R, 114 minutes - I've heard a lot of great things about Chef since it was released earlier this summer and I was pretty excited when I was finally able to watch it last week. It is a smaller film that first hit theaters back in May so there's a pretty good chance that it's no longer playing at a theater near you.  The good news is that it looks like it will be available on blu-ray/digital/On-Demand in about a month. Written and directed by Jon Favreau, the film is about Carl Casper (Favreau), a chef who was once known for his creativity and who now finds himself at a crossroads in his life and career after a very public confrontation with food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt). At the urging of his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) and with the financial backing of his ex-wife's ex-husband Marvin (Robert Downey Jr), Carl opens a food truck named El Jefe. With the help of his son Percy (Emjay Anthony) and his former line cook Martin (John Leguizamo), Car...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), PG-13, 101 minutes - This reboot of the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise came out last weekend and has already been successful enough at the box office that a sequel has been announced with a scheduled 2016 release.  That's all well and good, but what I had heard about the film itself over the past week was that it fell flat and wasn't really all that good.  I tend to try not to let a bunch of critic-speak sway my desire to see a film, but sometimes that's difficult to do when the prevailing opinion is negative.  I had a little free time earlier today and I decided to give it a shot and what I found was a film that at its core, got the TMNT vibe down pretty well. Now admittedly, there's not much depth to the story here, but honestly, upon re-watching the original 1990 live action Ninja Turtles movie prior to seeing this, there wasn't much there either.  This go around, the world's favorite wisecracking ...

The Giver (2014), PG-13, 94 minutes - The Giver is based on the 1993 story of the same name written by Lois Lowry and is the latest post apocalyptic/sci-fi society young adult novel to be adapted to the big screen.  I've never read The Giver myself, but having been fourteen back in 1993, I was definitely a part of the target demographic and remember it being pretty popular among classmates. This film version of The Giver takes place in a future utopian society created after an unnamed great war.  The elders who founded the community believed that the source of all misgivings and conflict in life was emotion.  They built a society devoid of emotion, which was accomplished by sterilizing the population of their memories and instituting a strict set of governing rules.  Everything from recognition of color (that of objects or even skin tone) to the enjoyment of music was lost, all in an effort for absolute equality.  The lack of emotion also means that no one ...

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), PG-13, 121 minutes - After being fairly successful at avoiding spoilers on the internet (or from others who beat me to seeing it), I was able to check out Guardians of the Galaxy yesterday afternoon.  Most people are probably wondering 'who the hell are they?' or 'what on Earth is going on with a talking raccoon and tree?'.  To be honest, my previous exposure to these characters is lower than normal when it comes to the Marvel films.  What I do know is that what little I've read was well written and very entertaining.  From the time Marvel announced that Guardians of the Galaxy would be joining their Cinematic Universe (MCU), I've been very excited (it landed on my Most Anticipated Films of 2014 list ).  Since the Guardians have never been even remotely mainstream (until the last year or so), a theatrical adaptation of their adventures posed the biggest question mark of any Marvel project to date and rightfully so.  B...

Lucy (2014), R, 90 minutes - I don't know about anyone else, but when I first saw the trailer for this film, I thought to myself 'that sounds like Limitless with Scarlett Johansson instead of Bradley Cooper'.  Of course Cooper's character willingly took drugs whereas Johansson's does not, but with Lucy, director Luc Besson explores the same basic concept of a person becoming able to access the entirety of their brain functions. Lucy (Johansson) begins the film as an American student in Taipei.  After a crazy night out with her new boyfriend Richard (Pilou Asbaek), she's forced into being a drug mule for his employer Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi).  Mr. Jang is planning on distributing a new synthetic drug across Europe.  CPH4 increases the user's ability to access their brain's functions (the average human only accesses about 10% normally).  Before she is able to get her flight out of Taipei, an altercation causes the bag of CPH4 in her belly to rupture, f...