Reviews | myPDFscripts

Jeff Beck Reviews: Dark Shadows

There are times when a writer can successfully integrate a number of tones together to create a memorable film. For instance, just a couple of weeks ago, I reviewed the Norwegian film “Headhunters,” which blended together thrills, mystery, and black comedy into a bizarre, but rather entertaining film. Then there are times when the mixture is not successful and finds itself struggling to create an identity, which brings us to Tim Burton’s latest film, “Dark Shadows.” Based upon the popular soap opera that ran from 1966 to 1971, it tells the story of the Collins family, who thrived in the fishing market in the 18th century. As a young boy, Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) comes to America and eventually begins

Jeff Beck Reviews: God Bless America

“God Bless America” has a pair of “heroes” that most people could almost sympathize with. One is a man who has had enough with everyone regurgitating everything they hear about on reality shows, sports, and gossip programs and just wants the world to be a nicer place, while the other is a young lady who is sick of her mundane, everyday life and wants something new and exciting to happen to pull her out of it. These sound like common positions, right? However, as common as these positions might appear, these two aren’t content with sitting around hoping for things to change on their own. The man is named Frank (Joel Murray). He is divorced, has a young daughter who

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Avengers

“The Avengers” has been a long time coming. Marvel has slowly been building its way towards it by releasing individual films about some of the superheroes such as “Iron Man,” “Thor,” and “Captain America,” but now they have finally assembled them as a group to fight off those that would threaten Earth in an action-packed adventure that is likely to please fans and non-fans of the comic books alike. The film starts off with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of S.H.I.E.L.D., checking on Dr. Selvig’s (Stellan Skarsgard) progress with the Tesseract, a cube containing unlimited energy that they are trying to harness. However, the cube also acts as a gateway, through which Loki (Tom Hiddleston) unexpectedly arrives. Loki escapes

Jeff Beck Reviews: Safe

“Safe” is another one of those films where you know exactly what you’re getting into before it even begins. First, the trailer is pretty much a mash-up of fight scenes while showing you brief glimpses of the plot, which mirrors the film exactly. Then there’s the addition of Jason Statham, who rarely, if ever, changes up his normal shtick of getting into fights while delivering silly dialogue in his low, gravelly voice. With these two things combined, you’ve practically already seen the film. Mei (Catherine Chan) is a young Chinese girl with a very special gift. She has an amazing memory that allows her to remember things very well such as really long numbers, a talent that has Chinese and

Jeff Beck Reviews: Headhunters

Morten Tyldum’s “Headhunters” is an interesting blend of tones and genres. It starts off with what you think will be a heist film, but then quickly changes into a thriller/mystery. It even takes some time to throw in a little black comedy throughout. All of these elements combine to give you a film where you’ll not only be unsure of what will happen next, but also what your emotional reaction to it will be. Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is living the good life. He lives in a large house with his beautiful wife Diana (Synnove Macody Lund) and has a decent job as a headhunter for a large corporation. The problem is, he can’t afford the lifestyle he has chosen,

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” is one of those films that most people will watch and probably never give a second thought about. That’s not necessarily because it’s bad, but because it’s just not particularly memorable in any way. It’s a very light and breezy film, which can be a good thing, but after watching this, I found myself struggling to think of anything that made it stand out or made it interesting. There were a few things, but as usual, I found that the main problem could be traced back directly to the story. The film tells the tale of a group of pirates lead by the Pirate Captain (Voice of Hugh Grant). These pirates are not exactly great

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Moth Diaries

With the treatment that vampires have been getting in books and film recently, you can imagine that the likes of Bram Stoker, F.W. Murnau, and Bela Lugosi must be spinning in their graves. The biggest culprit has been Stephenie Meyer, whose “Twilight” books have turned vampires into a laughingstock. These were subsequently adapted into terrible films, a trend which continues here with the adaptation of Rachel Klein’s own vampire novel, “The Moth Diaries.” The film opens with Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) returning to an all-girls boarding school where she is reunited with her best friend Lucie (Sarah Gadon). When a new girl, Ernessa (Lily Cole), arrives and begins to spend a lot of time with Lucie, Rebecca not only becomes a

Jeff Beck Reviews: Think Like a Man

Tim Story’s “Think Like a Man” recalls films like “Valentine’s Day” and “New Year’s Eve,” and if you’ve seen those, then you already know that that’s not a good thing. Here we have yet another film that attempts to take more characters than it can handle and juggle them together into a story where the audience couldn’t care less about them. The only difference here is that several of these characters interact with each other rather than having multiple unrelated stories. However, that doesn’t save it from becoming as much of a mess. It tells the story of several male friends, including Jeremy (Jerry Ferrara), Dominic (Michael Ealy), Michael (Terrence Jenkins), and Zeke (Romany Malco), who are attempting to start

Jeff Beck Reviews: Monsieur Lazhar

Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar” was this year’s foreign film entry from Canada and was lucky enough to be one of the final five nominees for the Academy Awards. It didn’t win, but it wasn’t because it wasn’t a good film, it was because it had the unfortunate luck of being nominated the same year as the Iranian film “A Separation,” a film whose momentum could not be stopped throughout awards season. “Monsieur Lazhar” begins with the sudden suicide of a teacher at a Canadian elementary school. Her co-workers knew she hadn’t been feeling particularly well, but it still comes as a shock to everyone. The news comes to the attention of Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), who comes to the school

Jeff Beck Reviews: Touchback

Have you ever wanted to change a major event in your past, something that you’ve reflected on for several years, but always felt could have gone a different way? Changing a few things might seem like a good idea, but you’d have to take a few other things into consideration, such as how that change would affect you and the people you know. Furthermore, would it really make your life turn out for the better? Scott Murphy (Brian Presley) has such an event in his life that has altered it drastically. Back in high school, he was one of the greatest football players in the state, ready to go to college on a full scholarship. In 1991, he helped lead

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Cabin in the Woods

“The Cabin in the Woods” has had a heck of a time trying to get released. Shot back in 2009, it was originally delayed so that it could pointlessly be converted to 3D, something that luckily never happened. In the delay, the studio that made it went bankrupt, causing many to wonder if the film would ever make it to theaters. Eventually the film was picked up by another studio, but instead of releasing it around October as many expected, they delayed the release even longer. Usually this many delays means terrible things for the film in question. However, in this case, it merely built anticipation for what becomes the first great film of 2012. The film follows five friends,

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Raid: Redemption

“The Raid: Redemption” is a non-stop action film that is filled with wall-to-wall martial arts, gunfire, and blood. This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it weren’t for the complete lack of any reason to care about anything going on in the film. The main reason that it seems to have been made is as a showcase for as many fight scenes as the filmmakers could fit into its brief running time of about 90 minutes. Apparently the plot was merely an afterthought. It tells the story of a SWAT team, which includes Rama (Iko Uwais) and Jaka (Joe Taslim), who are tasked with raiding a building known to house criminals looking to lay low. Their key objective is

Jeff Beck Reviews: We Have a Pope

It’s an event that’s only happened once thus far in my lifetime: the election of a pope. Thousands of people crowd St. Peter’s Square in Rome as the College of Cardinals votes on who is to become the new Supreme Pontiff. The crowd eagerly awaits the releasing of smoke that tells them whether or not the vote was successful, black indicating that it was not, while white indicates that a new pope has been chosen. As head of the church, the papacy comes with much responsibility, but what if the one elected felt that they were unable to fulfill those duties? Such is the topic of Nanni Moretti’s “We Have a Pope.” The film opens with the precession of the

Jeff Beck Reviews: ATM

David Brooks’s “ATM” is a film that has a flawed premise almost from the very start. Brooks and his screenwriter, Chris Sparling, who have obviously seen “Phone Booth” one too many times, thought that perhaps they could transfer the tension and suspense of that great little film to another location and still have it be just as effective. Sadly, they were quite mistaken in their endeavor. The story involves David (Brian Geraghty), Corey (Josh Peck), and Emily (Alice Eve), who are all coworkers attending their office’s Christmas party. David finally gets the nerve to ask Emily out for lunch, but for the time being, he manages to talk her into letting him drive her home. However, he has also told

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Hunter

Daniel Nettheim’s “The Hunter” is a dark, brooding film that depends just as much on scenes of silence as it does on scenes of dialogue. Half of the film is simply a man hunting in the woods, setting traps and trying to find signs of his prey, while the other half incorporates a more human element into the story. Both of these are interesting parts of the story, which makes it unfortunate when they don’t end up getting put together particularly well. Martin David (Willem Dafoe) has been hired by a company to travel to the outback of Tasmania, Australia in order to hunt the last known Tasmanian Tiger from which he’s supposed to collect samples and then destroy the

Jeff Beck Reviews: Dark Tide

Imagine “Jaws” without the interesting storyline, engaging characters, memorable dialogue, thrills, suspense, and entertainment and you’d have a pretty good idea of what awaits you with John Stockwell’s “Dark Tide.” What these filmmakers did was basically take all of those elements and found their polar opposites to put together a film that is one of the most tedious movie-going experiences of recent memory. The film starts off by introducing us to Kate (Halle Berry), an expert on sharks who also swims with them, her husband Jeff (Olivier Martinez), and the rest of their crew. They are in the middle of making a shark documentary when things go terribly wrong. The sharks viciously attack the crew while they are getting underwater

Jeff Beck Reviews: Wrath of the Titans

Here we have “Wrath of the Titans,” a sequel to the special effects extravaganza “Clash of the Titans,” itself a remake of the 1981 film. While most people were turned off by the remake of “Clash,” I had found it to be a fun and silly spectacle of action and effects. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for its sequel. Where there was fun there is now tediousness. Where there were exciting special effects there is now boredom, and even worse, there is even less story than there was before. After the events of the first film, Perseus (Sam Worthington), a demigod and the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson), has decided to live the life of a normal man with

Jeff Beck Reviews: Intruders

“Intruders” is a horror film that has absolutely nothing memorable or noteworthy about it. So much so in fact, that even hard-core horror fans will have difficulty staying awake through this snoozefest. For a film that claims to be a horror-thriller, it is strangely lacking in both areas. This is probably a big part of the reason that the studio is attempting to slip this film out into theaters in a limited release. The story revolves around two families. The first is a young boy, Juan (Izan Corchero), and his mother. Juan has been writing a horror story involving a creature known as Hollowface, who is attempting to steal a face for himself. Juan begins having nightmares about the character,

Jeff Beck Reviews: Goon

There’s a kind of unwritten rule when it comes to sports films that says they should be about more than just the sport. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Take last year’s excellent sports drama “Moneyball” for example. There we had a film about how to put together a great baseball team which was all about the sport. Most of the time however, sports films deal with larger issues such as those tackled in “Remember the Titans” or “The Blind Side.” Now we have the hockey film “Goon,” which doesn’t attempt to do anything of the sort. Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott) is a bouncer at a bar. He comes from a family that has all made something

Jeff Beck Reviews: Mirror Mirror

“Snow White” is one of the most beloved stories in the Grimm fairy tales collection. When the most well-known adaptation of the story came to film, it represented a landmark in animation and the first full-length feature film from Walt Disney. Over the years, there have been several more adaptations, which brings us to “Mirror Mirror,” the first of two big “Snow White” films coming out this year that offer a twist on the old tale. Starting off with a prologue, we are told that a king fell in love with and married a beautiful queen (Julia Roberts). Not long after, the king had to leave on a quest to defend his kingdom, but was never seen again, leaving the

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Hunger Games

“The Hunger Games” is basically a far tamer version of a story already told over a decade earlier in Kinji Fukasaku’s masterpiece “Battle Royale,” itself based on a book by Koushun Takami. Both stories are set in a dystopian future and tell of young kids forced by the government to fight each other to the death in a gruesome battle where there can only be one victor. The author of “The Hunger Games,” Suzanne Collins, claimed to have never heard of “BR” before getting her book published. Did anyone actually believe her? Not really, but she did make a few changes in an attempt to make the story her own, and what results is a decent take on this already-told

Jeff Beck Reviews: Brake

Gabe Torres’s “Brake” is the kind of film that “Buried” was trying to be just a couple of years ago. They both want to be single-location, highly-suspenseful one-man shows that take the audience on a wild ride, and yet, neither film is completely successful at accomplishing this. “Buried” didn’t work all that well because it simply didn’t have that much suspense to it. “Brake” doesn’t really have that problem, but there are certain issues that it has, particularly in its ending, that stop it from being as strong as it might have been. Jeremy Reins (Stephen Dorff) awakens to find himself enclosed in a glass box in an unknown location. All he can see in front of him is a

Jeff Beck Reviews: Detachment

It seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve had a “good teacher trying to make a difference in a bad school” movie. It’s a premise we’ve seen many, many times before in films like “Stand and Deliver” and “Dangerous Minds.” We’ve even seen the principal get involved when it comes to getting those low test scores up in “Lean on Me.” Now we have “Detachment,” a film that attempts not only to be this same genre, but also several other things at the same time. Henry Barthes (Adrien Brody) is a substitute teacher whose latest job has brought him to a troubled school where most of the kids just don’t seem to care about their grades or their future. He

Jeff Beck Reviews: 21 Jump Street

“21 Jump Street” is yet another example of one of those films where I had one set of expectations going in, but left pleasantly surprised. What happens sometimes is that the trailer won’t make the film look funny at all, perhaps because it isn’t or, such as happened in this case, they saved the good material for when people actually go see the film, and as it turns out, there was more than enough of that good material to go around. The film, based upon the 1987 TV series of the same name, revolves around two cops, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum), who knew each other in high school and then ended up training at the police academy

Jeff Beck Reviews: John Carter

“John Carter” is a strange combination of genres that we don’t get to see very often. On the one hand, it wants to be a western, borrowing several elements of the genre, and on the other, it wants to be a science-fiction action epic with its multiple action sequences featuring lots of bizarre alien technology. The last time we saw these two genres blended together (“Cowboys & Aliens”), things didn’t turn out quite so well, but that didn’t deter these filmmakers from attempting to bring Edgar Rice Burroughs’s story to life. The film begins with a prologue explaining how there is a great power struggle taking place on Mars between two cities, Helium and Sodanga. A warlord of Sodanga has

Jeff Beck Reviews: Friends with Kids

“Friends with Kids” adds a new level of frustration to the same old romantic-comedy formula that we’ve seen thousands of times before. Usually that frustration merely stems from the fact that you have to wait for the couple, whether they’re first meeting or have been longtime friends, to finally figure out that they love each other and want to be together. The couple in this film not only does that, but they are also completely thoughtless about their actions before getting to that point. The couple, Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt), have been friends for ages but have never felt any attraction for each other. They’ve spent their years telling each other everything about their attempts to start

Jeff Beck Reviews: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

“Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” was very similar to another recent disastrous film-going experience I had. You may recall how I described “Underworld: Awakening” as “a film that was so soulless and so lifeless that it had not made a single bit of impact while it was playing.” Well, the “Ghost Rider” sequel made me feel that way all over again. Here was another movie that played out on screen, but was also inconsequential and unmemorable, leading to the question of why anyone would bother making it. The film revolves around Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), a man who made a pact with the Devil and is now inhabited by an evil demon that turns him into the vigilante Ghost Rider.

Jeff Beck Reviews: This Means War

“This Means War” features a premise that is incredibly preposterous, yet it wants us to believe that this could really be happening. The problem is not that two men can’t be vying for the same woman, that kind of thing probably happens quite a lot. Nor is it the indecisiveness of a woman when it comes to choosing between two guys who seem like good catches. The absurdity lies in how two CIA agents could fit something like this into their schedules when they are on the hunt for a criminal bent on revenge. These two agents, FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy), have worked together for a long time and have become like brothers. As the film opens,

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Vow

“The Vow” is a sweet-natured film that asks some very intriguing questions: Can a couple fall in love again if one of them can’t even remember the other? Can these things only happen once under very specific circumstances or will they happen anyway as though they were meant to be? These questions could have made for a rather interesting film, but due to an overly-sappy, predictable treatment of the material, that’s not exactly what we get. The film begins with a married couple, Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams), who are deeply in love. On their way home, a truck crashes into the back of their car, putting them both in the hospital. In no time, Leo is back

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Secret World of Arrietty

Studio Ghibli has given us some of the greatest animated films of the past 30 years including several collaborations with master animator Hayao Miyazaki such as “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Princess Mononoke,” and “Spirited Away.” “The Secret World of Arrietty” is a return to the land of imagination that is so often the basis for these beautiful films that continually show that animation can be so much more than just a cartoon. Shawn (Voice of David Henrie), a sickly young boy, has come to live with his Aunt (Voice of Gracle Poletti) and their housekeeper, Hara (Voice of Carol Burnett), in a house in the country in order to get some rest before an operation. Living in this same house is

Jeff Beck Reviews: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin” is a bleak, depressing, and haunting portrait of a woman who tries to come to terms with the fact that her son is a monster. It slowly unravels its tale through flashbacks that tell us what happened to make this so. There is, of course, no easy explanation, but rather a series of events that point to a few possibilities of how things got to be the way they are. What unfolds is not an easy story to watch, but it is also one of the best films of the year. Beginning in the present day, we meet Eva (Tilda Swinton), who leads a dreary life, seemingly detached from all outside contact.

Jeff Beck Reviews: Haywire

This week, I’ve seen all kinds of storytelling techniques. There’s been a film with a thread of a story trying to prop itself up on action sequences. There’s been a film that actually had an engaging storyline that made itself more and more intense by upping the stakes. Now we have a peculiar way of trying to tell a story that does a little better than the first, which is saving the last ten minutes of the film for an attempt to put one together at the last minute, but which unfortunately doesn’t meet the standards of the second. Mallory (Gina Carano) is an agent for a private security company who is on the run after a job during which

Jeff Beck Reviews: Contraband

Baltasar Kormakur’s “Contraband” may seem like the standard, clichéd action movie that we’ve seen several times before, but it’s also one of the instances where it’s done surprisingly well. Here’s a film that could have simply put the story on autopilot for the whole movie and allowed the action scenes to take over, but the story is actually the surprising element. It twists and turns and takes the audience right along for the ride, allowing you to get caught up in wondering what could possibly happen next. Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) is an ex-smuggler who now sells security systems for a living. When his wife’s (Kate Beckinsale) brother, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), is forced to dump a smuggled shipment, Chris

Jeff Beck Reviews: Underworld: Awakening

“Underworld: Awakening” was a very odd movie-going experience. The film was on the screen and was suddenly off again. Approximately 80 minutes had passed by, but absolutely nothing of consequence had occurred during that time. This was a film that was so soulless and so lifeless that it had not made a single bit of impact while it was playing. It’s no wonder the studio decided to release it in January, aka “dump month.” The film opens as a vast manhunt for lycans and vampires is underway. While trying to reunite with her lover, Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire, is captured and taken to a research facility where a team of scientists is studying lycans. Selene escapes and eventually meets

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Iron Lady

Phyllida Lloyd’s “The Iron Lady” presents a portrait of one of the most famous women in the history of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, their first female Prime Minister. However, it does this in more than one sense of the word. While it does attempt to tell us about her life, the film feels like you are merely looking at an actual painting of the ex-Prime Minister for all the information this film presents about this extraordinary woman. The film begins with Thatcher’s (Meryl Streep) post-political life, showing us that she has not been quite right since her husband, Denis (Jim Broadbent), passed away. In fact, she still sees him quite often and holds conversations with him. Eventually we begin

Jeff Beck Reviews: Carnage

Roman Polanski’s “Carnage” presents us with an incredibly simple premise. One couple has come over to another couples home in order to discuss an incident that involved their kids, one of whom hit the other in the face with a stick. Everything starts off fine. The assailant’s parents, Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan (Christoph Waltz), are very apologetic, wishing they had been able to meet under different circumstances. Meanwhile, the victim’s parents, Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly), try to be as hospitable as they can, offering them coffee and cobbler. However, we quickly see that something is not quite right here. From early on, we see that even simple word choice comes under scrutiny (Alan objects to

Jeff Beck Reviews: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is based on the popular spy novel by John le Carre which was previously adapted into a TV miniseries back in 1979. Having never read the book or seen the miniseries, I walked into the new version of the film having been forewarned that it can be a bit hard to keep track of what with multiple characters and events having been condensed from a complex novel, and while it is a little hard to follow at times, it’s not the audience I would blame for this problem. The story begins as Control (John Hurt), head of British Intelligence, sends Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) on a mission to Hungary to try and attempt to bring a

Jeff Beck Picks: The Best and Worst Films of 2011

2011 is the weakest year of film in recent memory. That’s not to say there weren’t some pretty good films out there, but it is the first year in which I can recall not having seen a movie that has earned a four-star rating. Whereas some critics give them out like candy, it takes a little more for me to award such a rating. I have to be absolutely blown away by a film for such a rating to be given. For example, last year I saw three four-star films: “Inception,” “The King’s Speech,” and “Rabbit Hole,” each of them a superb achievement in cinema. This is also the first year I can recall there not being a clear choice

Jeff Beck Reviews: War Horse

Leave it to the great Steven Spielberg to be able to inject a great deal of heart into a story about a boy and his horse. He’s a master at being able to make the audience care about the most unusual of main characters, even when they’re not human, such as an alien in “E.T.” or a robotic boy in “Artificial Intelligence.” Now he applies that same mastery to a horse to bring us “War Horse,” a beautifully made epic that takes place before and during World War I. Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan), his wife Rose (Emily Watson), and their son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) live on a farm in England where they struggle just to be able to pay the

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Artist

Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” is a film about silent film that is itself a silent film. How amazing is it that a silent film could be released in 2011 and garner the amazing critical reception that Hazanivicius’s has? It’s been on a seemingly nonstop roll, receiving multiple critics’ prizes for Best Picture among others and is currently the frontrunner to take home the Best Picture Oscar come February. Now that the film has finally gotten a wider release, it’s time for the rest of the country to see whether it’s worthy of those accolades. “The Artist” tells the story of George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a big, successful silent film star, whose films play to packed theaters and much applause. The

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Adventures of Tintin

In the first of his two films coming out this month, Steven Spielberg brings us his first animated feature, an adaptation of the beloved Belgian comics “The Adventures of Tintin” by Georges Rémi, aka Hergé. It has been said that Hergé believed that Spielberg was the only one who would be able to do justice to his work, and after having spent over 25 years trying to get the film made, Spielberg has finally delivered a result that is quite extraordinary. It all begins with a model ship that Tintin (Voice of Jamie Bell) purchases. Immediately upon doing so, he is confronted by a man, Barnaby (Voice of Joe Starr), who first tries to buy the ship from him, but

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

David Fincher returns to the gritty kind of material that made him a household name as a director with an American adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” the first book in the “Millennium Trilogy.” You may recall that the same novel was made into an excellent Swedish film merely two years ago and released into the States just last year. With the original’s success, it was only a matter of time before it was re-adapted for an English-speaking audience, and with many people seeing this story for the first time, it will be fresh and suspenseful, but for those who saw the Swedish film last year, there could be a slightly different reaction. The story follows

Jeff Beck Reviews: Young Adult

Writer/director Jason Reitman has had an amazing and unique career. His very first film, “Thank You for Smoking,” garnered multiple praises from critics and audiences alike. His next two films, “Juno” and “Up in the Air,” did the same, with the addition of being nominated for multiple Academy Awards including four for Reitman himself. These three films are excellent mixes of comedy and drama with stories that are very touching. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Reitman’s latest project, “Young Adult.” The story revolves around Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), an author of a young adult book series that is coming to an end. One day, she receives an announcement from an old flame of hers, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson),

Jeff Beck Reviews: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The “Mission: Impossible” franchise has been running strong since 1996 with the sole purpose of providing exciting adventures and thrilling action sequences as we follow the various team members of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). Now comes the fourth entry in the series, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” which takes the series to a whole new level of non-stop action, so much so that it’ll take your breath away as it relentlessly hurtles you through the IMF’s latest mission. The film opens as Agents Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton) break Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) out of a Russian prison in order to go on an important mission. A Russian by the name of Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) is planning

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Descendants

It’s been seven years since writer/director Alexander Payne brought us the excellent “Sideways” that told the tale of two men going on a wine-tasting tour shortly before one of them is to be married. What made it work so well was not only the performances from Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church, but also a great mixture of drama and comedy. Now Payne returns to a similar formula with his latest, “The Descendants,” with a story that’s quite different. Matt King (George Clooney) has recently gone through tragedy that has left his wife, Elizabeth, in a coma. For the first time, he finds himself taking care of their young daughter, Scottie (Amara Miller), something he doesn’t really know much about

Jeff Beck Reviews: A Dangerous Method

Director/writer David Cronenberg has had quite a strange career. He’s given us some fascinating and memorable films like “A History of Violence,” “The Fly,” and “Naked Lunch,” but like most directors, he has also had his pitfalls with earlier films like “Videodrome” and “The Brood.” Now Cronenberg completely changes gears to bring us something that’s quite unlike his usual areas of interest. “A Dangerous Method” explores the early days of psychoanalysis through the eyes of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) as he attempts a new method developed by Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). This method simply calls for the doctor to talk to the patient, in this case, a disturbed young woman named Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), in order to cure them.

Jeff Beck Reviews: Like Crazy

“Like Crazy” attempts to show us a real take on first love. It takes us through the ups and downs of the relationship as the two come together and are drawn apart over and over again, showing us that, no matter how many obstacles get in the way, it’s hard to forget that certain someone you had special feelings for. Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones) meet in a college class and begin dating. As first dates often go, it begins awkwardly with neither of the two having very much to say. However, they find that they have a strong bond between them which leads to their continued relationship. Anna is a British citizen visiting the US on a

Jeff Beck Reviews: Arthur Christmas

“Arthur Christmas” is a family film with its heart in the right place. It seeks to please children with its light story, colorful animation, and some amusing humor. For the adults in the crowd, however, this may not be quite enough to equate the film as an altogether enjoyable experience. There’s such a thing as having too light of a story, and indeed, halfway into the screening, it appeared that both kids and adults were becoming a little restless as this good-intentioned film continued on. It tells the story of how Santa (Voice of Jim Broadbent) is able to deliver presents to everyone in the world in one night with the help of his elite elf squadron, lots of technology

Jeff Beck Reviews: Hugo

Director Martin Scorsese has been known to try a hand at several different genres. He’s most well-known for his films that take a darker look at humanity, though he has given us a pair of comedies and some documentaries as well. One thing Scorsese is not known for is making kids’ films, which is why “Hugo” became one of the most talked about films of the year. What would a man with Scorsese’s background in violent gangster films bring to the genre of childrens’ cinema? The film involves a young boy, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), who lives in the walls of a Paris train station. His father (Jude Law) has passed away, leaving him with his uncle (Ray Winstone), who

Jeff Beck Reviews: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1

The soap opera continues in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.” Up to this point, my reviews have been rather lenient on this series, but with this new entry, it gets taken to an all-time low. It has the same problems as the other films (overly-melodramatic, terrible acting, etc.), but somehow there manages to be even less of a plot than before, which is saying quite a lot as there hasn’t been much happening throughout the previous three films. Part 1 of the final chapter in this saga begins with the big day that fans of the series have been waiting for: the wedding of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). Everyone is there including