Movie Reviews - Gobbledygeek Podcast

'Prometheus' Review: Lost in Space

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus has an early shot which undeniably quotes 2001: A Space Odyssey, a beautiful image of a planet ringed with light. There’s some more striking imagery, of an unidentified landscape. A humanoid being removes his cloak and ingests some form of liquid which quickly begins killing

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'Men in Black III' Review: Out of Time?

I love the first Men in Black. Really, truly, sincerely love it; to me, it’s the Ghostbusters of the ’90s. If you know me, that’s high praise. I was seven years old in 1997, so there’s always going to be some nostalgia attached to my memories of

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'The Avengers' Review: Marvel Six-in-One

Four years ago, two films gave the superhero genre a much-needed kick in the pants: Iron Man and The Dark Knight. They were on opposite ends of the spectrum–the former bright and funny, the latter dark and gloomy–but both felt honest, and honesty’s something the genre needed

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'The Pirates! Band of Misfits' Review: A Few Chuckles on the High Seas

I like pirates. I enjoy inherently silly things. I’m an admirer of Aardman Animations, having greatly enjoyed Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run. I guffawed at the trailer for The Pirates! Band of Misfits enough times that I ventured out to see a children’s movie on a Sunday

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'The Cabin in the Woods' Review: Scary Movie

Saying this upfront: NO SPOILERS. Paul and I have also discussed the film on the show. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A bunch of kids pack into an RV for a weekend of fun, sex, and sexy fun. That they encounter the extremely creepy owner of

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Jonah Hill Will Make You Jump, Jump: 21 Jump Street Review

Though I wouldn’t have predicted this in a thousand years, and I’ve been skeptical of others who have claimed this before me, I’m here now to tell you 21 Jump Street…is actually good. Obviously an “homage” (read: send up, parody, reimagining, whatever) of the late-80s teen

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'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' Review: Mc9/11

The Ultimate Gift is the worst movie I’ve ever seen. You probably haven’t heard of it. Good for you. I don’t want to imply that it’s well-made, because it’s not, but there are certainly worse-made movies out there. Little Man, Date Movie, Space Mutiny, etc.

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Review: Chronicle

Superhero origin stories are de rigueur, as are attempts to translate those stories to the “real world.” Chronicle, from newcomers Josh Trank (director) and Max “son of John” Landis (screenplay) pulls it off surprisingly well, featuring three teenage protagonists that behave in completely believable ways when gifted with burgeoning telekinetic

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AJ's 'Thor' Review: Almost Thunderous

I’ve long thought that Marvel’s overarching plan for its homegrown superhero movies was absolutely insane–and pretty ingenious, too. Spider-Man, the X-Men, and some other notable players are tied up at other film companies, but Marvel wisely held onto the rights to each member of the Avengers and

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Paul's 'Thor' Review: Mjol-Near Perfect

Well, that settles it. Kenneth Branagh is a geek. How else to explain the brilliant blending of Shakespearean pomp and circumstance with the Lee/Kirby pseudo-sci-fi goofiness? Thor the comic was always just a tad inconsistent in the way it imported ancient Nordic mythology into the modern superhero landscape. The

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'Kill the Irishman' Review: Bomb City U.S.A., Once Upon a Time

In the summer of 1976, 36 bombs went off in Cleveland. I’d heard this statistic somewhere before; it’s sort of hard not to when you’ve lived within driving distance of the city your whole life. But seeing that statistic placed in context is still pretty startling. As

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'Super' Review: A Schizophrenic Film About a Psychopath

Super, written and directed by the cult-equipped James Gunn, reminds me of two recent movies. The first, and most obvious, is Kick-Ass. Like that film, and the comic book upon which it was based, Super takes the last decade of our nation’s obsession with anything and everything involving people

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Source Code Review

Source Code, the new film from director Duncan Jones, is a compelling blend of old-fashioned science fiction, classic ticking clock thriller, and new age theophilosophical what if. Army Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) has had his consciousness plugged into the memory remains of a man who died in a train

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Once Upon a Time: 'Hanna' Is a Bloody Fable

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. Her mother the queen had been killed by an evil witch, and she and her father the king had been banished to a faraway land of ice and snow. Here the princess learned to be strong, to survive the wild, to

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Level Up: Sucker Punch Review

This article contains major spoilers. Duh. Okay, let’s get this out of the way right up front: Sucker Punch is not a perfect film. God knows there are enough righteous film critics and internet ass hats falling all over themselves to be the one to find the snarkiest, most

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Movie Review: 'Killers'

Director: Robert Luketic Writers: Bob DeRosa and Ted Griffin, based on a story by DeRosa After 2004’s The Butterfly Effect, I swore off Ashton Kutcher movies. Now, of all the terrible actors in all the movies in all the world, there are many worse than Kutcher. Rob Schneider, for

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Movie Review: 'The A-Team'

Director: Joe Carnahan Writers: Joe Carnahan, Brian Bloom, and Skip Woods, based on the television series The A-Team created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo Maybe I’m simply of the wrong generation, but does anyone actually like The A-Team? The old TV series, I mean. I’ve barely

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Movie Review: 'Toy Story 3'

Director: Lee Unkrich Writers: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich The fact that I was watching a new Toy Story movie took a little while to sink in. It’s been 11 years since Toy Story 2, which is a huge interim for any film series, but

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Movie Review: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Originally published on May 8, 2010 Director: Jon Favreau Writer: Justin Theroux, based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby I attended a packed midnight screening of Iron Man 2, and directly beforehand, in the same auditorium, a considerably less packed screening

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Movie Review: Kick-Ass (2010)

Originally published on April 19, 2010 Director: Matthew Vaughn Writers: Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Kick-Ass is not particularly well-made. It is not particularly well-written. With some exceptions, it is not even particularly well-acted. It is absolute trash,

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Movie Review: Peacock (2010)

Originally published on April 15, 2010 Director: Michael Lander Writers: Michael Lander and Ryan O Roy I went into Peacock as I am rarely able to go into a new movie: Totally blind. Usually when a film stars Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, and Susan Sarandon, I’ll have heard about