9 Halloween Costumes from Movies I Love

Speaks Reviews: Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs

To the Power of Three

★★★ out of ★★★★

A Speaks Movie Review

Listen: I use Apple products as if there is nothing else. But I have no interest in the man Steve Jobs. I do have interest in anything Aaron Sorkin writes. I don't care much for Danny Boyle as a filmmaker. With these sorts of divides, I would imagine I was a bit of a tough audience for this film.

Having said that, I liked the new film Steve Jobs, based on the biography by Walter Isaacson, a man who also tackled Einstein and Benjamin Franklin and Henry Kissinger.

I most certainly didn't love it.

Speaks Reviews: Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies

The Standing Man

★★★★ out of ★★★★

 A Speaks Movie Review

"People think wrong sometimes. People are people." - Rudolf Abel

I get juiced up about Steven Spielberg movies. His latest, Bridge of Spies, is no exception. The trailer hit, and it seemed as if there was nothing but hate. It looks "mmm pretty but typical Spielberg period schtick" and "blah blah blah." These are not direct quotes, but you get the point. People become jaded with certain types of films. I get it. I almost never get excited about a "period piece." We can't blame people for being people. But I am one who wishes to hold onto his idealism for Spielberg, the same idealism has given me over the years.

On Home Video: Cameron Crowe's Aloha

Lost in Hawaii

★ out of ★★★★

A Speaks Movie Review

I wasn't too far into my screening of Cameron Crowe's Aloha before I finally turned to my wife and said, "Do you have any idea what the hell is going on? I mean what is this even about?" She replied, "I know, right?!"

Speaks Reviews: Robert Zemeckis' The Walk

Or Man on Wire? 

★★★ out of ★★★★

A Speaks Movie Review

The Walk is more of an experience than a movie. The only option at our local multiplex was IMAX 3D. There is, I'm sure, no other way.

Now, I rarely watch a movie in 3D if given a choice. I just don't like wearing the glasses. The Walk is only the second one I've seen, after 2012's Life of Pi, that actually looked good. And this one does look good. At times, it even looks great. And, at one point, it is absolutely awe-inducing.

Missed Masterpieces: Spring Breakers

Spring Break as Pop Art

An Essay in Words and Images by Kevin Powers

Harmony Korine is not as weird as I once thought.

About 8 years ago now, I watched his debut feature film, 1997's Gummo, a semi-poetic journey into the extreme oddities of a small town. It is also semi-gross, intentionally. It made me feel dirty, but, by the end, I was smiling, mostly due to two soundtrack cuts, "Like a Prayer" by Madonna and "Crying" by Roy Orbison. Despite this, I never felt compelled to watch another of his films. I never decided whether I actually enjoyed it. How could I? I don't think it wants to be liked.

And I'm not sure whether or not his latest feature film, Spring Breakers, is meant to be liked either. But I am sure that this is a movie I liked. In fact, I think I love it.

In Movie Lines: September 20 - October 10

Movies I've Watched

Late September/Early October 2015

Thursday Movie Picks - Halloween Edition: Villainous Children

Is there anything scarier than a nutcase kid? I'll answer for you: No.

And I think I have some good picks this week. I tried to spread it around a bit. I have some horror. Some comedy. Some just crazy, exploitative harshness. And even a bonus.

So, welcome back to Thursday, my blogging friends, for an other entry in Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. This week, it's another Halloween Edition: Villainous Chidren-style.

Speaks Reviews: Denis Villeneuve's Sicario

Only a Pawn in the Game

A Speaks Movie Review

★★★★ out of ★★★★

"Why am I here?"

This is an actual question asked by FBI Agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) in Denis Villeneuve's latest twisty tale of the worst of humanity, Sicario. He's taken on the sordid past of a Middle Eastern immigrant in 2010's Incendies, the lengths a father will go to save his child in 2012's Prisoners, and the dueling personas of a man and his doppelganger in 2013's Enemy. That question could've been (and may have been) spoken by any of the characters in any of his films at one point or another. In Sicario, his dive into the world of Mexican drug cartels, that question is everything. 

For the full review, head over to Pop Depravity. 

Speaks Reviews: Ridley Scott's The Martian

Happy Days on Mars (well...mostly)

A Speaks Movie Review

★★★ 1/2 out of ★★★★

The Martian is a really good movie. I can't think of any better way to put it. It is entertaining all the way through, "Lol" funny AND clever, suspenseful when it needs to be, interesting, intelligent, and it is a production at the highest level. 

If my theater experience with this one is any indication, then it appears the opening weekend audiences agree with me. The people laughed and commented (in good ways) and hung on the edge and clapped at the end. As a movie lover, this is a special thing to see. 

For the full review, head over to Pop Depravity. 

Thursday Movie Picks - Halloween Edition: Alfred Hitchcock Movies

Well, this one was a bit of trouble. I have seen only five Alfred Hitchcock movies (I know. I know.). And two of those (Vertigo and North by Northwest) fall more into the film noir genre, not qualifying, in my mind, as Halloween Edition-worthy.

I at least have three that work though. Phew!! So glad I don't have to sit this one out. You won't find me on Asian Horror week. I'll go ahead and get that out of the way now. I'm lacking in horror as it is and need to see the good American horror before I travel to Asia.

Anyway, I love Thursdays. And this week on Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks, it's a Halloween Edition, Alfred Hitchcock-style.