7 years ago
All posts by Josh Spiegel
“Ragnarok” A Middling, Wannabe “Indiana Jones” Adventure
The new Norwegian film Ragnarok wants very badly to be a modern-day Indiana Jones story, but ends up feeling slightly more enjoyable than the SyFy Movie of the Week. ("Better than Sharknado 2!" may not be a desirable pull-quote, but there you are.) Its heroic ...
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 157: “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
Are you hungry for a serious discussion of the new Helen Mirren film? Have you been starving for a debate about the merits of how excitable Oprah Winfrey gets? Have you cleared your plate of big-budget superhero movies in the hopes of something lighter and eas...
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Blu-Ray Review: “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”
Label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
MSRP: $29.99
Release Date: August 12, 2014
Region A
Buy at Amazon
Film: B / Video: B+ / Audio: A- / Extras: C+
It's not hard to think of Mary Poppins when watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Both were directed by Robe...
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Blu-Ray Review: “The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad”/”Fun and Fancy Free”
Label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
MSRP: $36.99
Release Date: August 12, 2014
Region A
Buy at Amazon
Film: B / Video: A- / Audio: A- / Extras: B+
The 1940s were a period of great and painful upheaval at Walt Disney Studios. They started with Pinocchio...
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History of Film: “2001: A Space Odyssey”
It may be only mild hyperbole to state that 2001: A Space Odyssey is, like The Jazz Singer and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Citizen Kane, one of the true monoliths of all cinema, a guiding and transformative force for the future. Divisive as it’s been s...
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“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” An Uninspired Revival of the Iconic ’80s Heroes
“Litter Stops Here” reads the sign that’s prominently displayed in front of April O’Neil (Megan Fox) at the beginning of an early setpiece in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the reboot of the Gen-Y-favorite franchise that spans films, video games, TV shows, and ...
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“The Maid’s Room” A Portentous, Plodding Mystery With One Good Twist
The music begins before the story does in The Maid's Room, and is consistently overwhelming until the end credits. That may sound like a minor issue, but there are various parts of this mostly single-set psychological thriller where the music ends up being so ...
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 156: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
We hope you've got an awesome mix tape at hand, and your weapon of choice at the ready, because it's time for an action-packed new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema. This week, Josh and Gabe go guest-free to get ready...for a dance-off, bro! Once more, they dive ...
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Blu-Ray Review: “Need for Speed”
Label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
MSRP: $36.99
Release Date: August 5, 2014
Region A
Buy at Best Buy
Film: D+ / Video: A- / Audio: A- / Extras: B
Aaron Paul drove away (literally) from Breaking Bad as something of a breakout star, unlike the more wel...
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“Behaving Badly” Is Head-Shakingly Awful
Sometimes, you watch a movie that's so instantly and painfully bad that you imagine it cannot top itself in terms of sheer, head-shaking awfulness. And then Gary Busey shows up as a local sheriff, so that he can spew his patented brand of craziness on screen f...
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