JUDGEMENT!: True Grit

True Grit is a remake of an old John Wayne film with the same title. No, I’ve never seen the original and have no desire to. I don’t have an Public Enemy type hatred of the guy. But at this point in my life he is more of a character of himself than anything else. I also trusted the great actors in this film to bring something new to the table and didn’t want to be influenced in any way. This version was directed be the Coen Brothers (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country For Old Men, Fargo) and I loved everything they did with it.

Hallie Seinfeld (Son of Tuscon) stars as Mattie Ross, a young girl whose father was murdered for some gold coins and a horse. She arrives in this small town and spends the night sleeping in the mortuary with her father and three other men she sees hung for various crimes. She is a very smart child with fantastic bargaining skills. She hires Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, Tron, Iron Man, The Men Who Stare At Goats) playing Rooster Cogburn, an alcoholic, chain smoking bounty hunter to track the man who killed her father for $50. Reluctantly he agrees.

JUDGEMENT!: Enter the Void

I woke up today still feeling off-kilter from the previous night’s endeavor. After seeing Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void one can only be so lucky as to call their disposition ‘slightly off-kilter.’ While I realize that every other critic has taken the opportunity to quip something along the lines of Noe’s work being an “assault,” it’s very hard to write anything adverse to this notion or even ancillary to it. Simply put, Noe’s recent work is a difficult watch, and not strictly for its content, but rather, its style.

JUDGEMENT!: Hereafter

 
Clint Eastwood has a long and storied professional history that spans across half a century and includes some of the most prolific titles of all time as well as some of the most memorable Oscar contenders of the last ten years.  His latest flick, Hereafter, is certainly not one of those aforementioned movies.

JUDGEMENT!: Bronson

Bronson tries to do everything a biopic should do, and then some.  It looks to portray its subject’s life in a unique, personal fashion toying with conventions, tone, and pacing to create a story thread true to its central character.  And while, at times, the biopic manages to do exactly that with a starved, exasperated, solitary pacing, this very same element also manages to grind the film to a halt at times and forces the audience to linger on moments and points in the criminal’s life that we simply could have done without.

JUDGEMENT!: Splice

With every fiber of my being I, Alex Hluch, wanted to write this review objectively. I wanted to use the most academic cinematic language possible and write candidly, but without bias or humor, on the film at hand. Unfortunately, I find now that I simply cannot do that. Splice is a movie that attempts to do so much in such a short amount of time. And while certain aspects of the film actually shine through rather nicely and create a seamless image at times on screen, nothing can truly buoy the absurdly fluctuating tone of the film and the insane character development and plot progression.

The Dante & Alex Show Episode 6

“Can we talk about Gary Oldman for a minute…?” - Alex

“I treat books like I treat sex. So I rush through it real fast ’cause I’m having too much fun.” - Dante

In this episode Dante and Alex cover everything from book reviews, how far kids should go in adult behavior in film, books becoming movies or TV shows, the latest DVD’s they have watched, rant about films and their outrageous budgets, whether Summer Glau is attractive or not, the weekend box office totals, how awesome Gary Oldman is, and the Top 5 Assholes of Cinema. Click here to download and listen to this and other DNA Shows!

The Dante & Alex Show Episode 5

“In the last 30 minutes after Superman battles nothing but existentialism…” - Alex

“Paul Giamanni looked so pained in this film because some tragedy struck him. No. Its because he read the script and said ‘Yes.” - Dante

Dante and Alex cook up something special in this episode. The top movies of the weekend are covered, movie trailers for Cowboys Versus Aliens and I Am Number 4 are reviewed, new superhero TV shows are discussed, they also create their own versions of Ghostbusters, and a Top 5 Worst Films are given and ripped a new asshole. Click here to download this and other DNA Shows!