ShowbizJunkies

Reviewed by Ian Forbes, Sobering Conclusion Peter Jackson struck nerd gold with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Using a combination of good actors, state-of-the-art CGI, top-notch make-up, finely crafted costumes, and the New Zealand landscape, he managed to turn a beloved series of books into films that not only remained faithful to the source [...]

Reviewed by Ian Forbes, Sobering Conclusion I’m beginning to wonder why I even go to so many big, Hollywood films. Sure, some provide a little escapism and there are a few each year that end up being great fun or a fantastic spectacle; but far more often than not, the films that truly capture a [...]

Reviewed by Kevin Finnerty “You are intrigued, aren’t you? Killing off your leading lady halfway through the movie,” says Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins). “You shouldn’t kill her off halfway through, you should kill her after the first thirty minutes,” replies Alma Hitchcock (Helen Mirren) as the old married couple discuss the next film the great director [...]

Reviewed by Ian Forbes, Sobering Conclusion Based on a novel by George V. Higgins, Killing Them Softly comes from screenwriter/director Andrew Dominik. It revolves around a fixer (Brad Pitt) who has to ascertain, and then rectify, the parties responsible for robbing his bosses’ illegal card game.   The film boasts an almost ridiculous wealth of [...]

Reviewed by Kevin Finnerty “It is our job to protect the children of the world. Now we face a threat greater than ever before,” says Santa (voiced by Alec Baldwin) to Jack Frost (voiced by Chris Pine) who has been selected to join the mighty four and become a guardian in the animated adventure Rise [...]

Reviewed by Ian Forbes, Sobering Conclusion Every time I saw Rise of the Guardians on a screening schedule, I kept thinking of Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole. I suppose that’s a good thing because after avoiding trailers as I’m sometimes able to do, I walked into the theater with little to no [...]

Reviewed by Kevin Finnerty “This is what I believe to be true: You have to do everything you can and if you stay positive you have a shot at a silver lining,” says Pat (Bradley Cooper) to his therapist in one of his many sessions since being released from the mental hospital in the drama/comedy [...]

Reviewed by Ian Forbes, Sobering Conclusion It used to be that Steven Spielberg created iconic films that shaped our imagination. The likes of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. assured his legacy. The mid-90s saw a mini-resurgence with Jurassic Park pushing the limits of CGI in its [...]

Reviewed by Ian Forbes, Sobering Conclusion A while back I heard of a movie called Silver Linings Playbook. All I could think was what a terrible title for a movie it seemed. As the release drew nearer, finding out it stars Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, I began to understand [...]

Reviewed by Ian Forbes, Sobering Conclusion Thinking about A Royal Affair, my mind began to make comparisons to another “historical” movie, Lincoln. Spielberg took a well-known historical figure and stripped him of any nuance, boiling complex events into simplistic fluff. Here, director Nikolaj Arcel is examining the reign of Denmark’s King Christian VII. Being a [...]