There and Back Again: Josh Reviews The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies!
Endings are a difficult thing. Sticking the landing of a long-form story is perilously challenging, and I’m sure we can all think of plenty of examples of failed endings, whether we’re talking about TV shows (Seinfeld and Lost both come to mind) or to movie trilogies (as
Days of De Palma (Part 10): The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
Well, I’d certainly heard of The Bonfire of the Vanities, one of the most famous flops in movie history, but I’d never before seen it. This was one of the movies I was most curious to see as part of my journey through the films of Brian De Palma. Was the film truly as
Josh Reviews The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I
I’ve never read any of the Hunger Games novels, but of course I knew of the phenomenon and so I was curious to see that first Hunger Games film. I found it entertaining but rather mediocre. But I was stunned how much I enjoyed the second film, Catching Fire. I thought that
Josh Reviews Chef
I’m a big fan of Jon Favreau the actor/performer, and I’ve also become a big fan of Jon Favreau the director. It’s easy to forget, now that the Marvel movies have become such a successful juggernaut, just what a minor miracle the original Iron Man was. That movie
Days of De Palma (Part 9): Casualties of War (1989)
Following up on the successful and great The Untouchables, Brian De Palma moved on to another large-scale project: the Vietnam War story Casualties of War. The film is based on the true events of the “incident on Hill 192” that occurred in 1966, and that were described in
Josh Reviews the Extended Edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
I have written many times before on this site about how amazing Peter Jackson’s Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings films were. Mr. Jackson and his team reinvented the whole idea of both a director’s cut of a film, and DVD behind-the-scenes special features. Bot
Josh Reviews Birdman
Let me cut right to the chase: this film is phenomenal! In Birdman, Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson. Riggan was once a world-famous Hollywood super-star who played the super-hero Birdman in three wildly successful films. But he made waves by refusing to return to the role for
Josh Reviews Interstellar
When it was first announced that Christopher Nolan would be making an original science-fiction film as his next project, featuring a top-shelf cast and utilizing a blockbuster-sized budget, I was quickly atwitter with visions of a masterpiece. After much anticipation, Interstellar h
Josh Reviews Gone Girl
The idea of a movie adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel Gone Girl probably wouldn’t have been something that, on its own, would pique my interest, but the involvement of director David Fincher immediately put the project on my radar. I have been a fan of Mr. Fincher
Days of De Palma (Part 8): The Untouchables (1987)
My journey through the films of Brian De Palma rolls on! After the one-two punch of 1984’s Body Double and 1986’s Wise Guys, both of which were terrible, I would imagine that Brian De Palma needed a hit. Well, he got one with 1987’s The Untouchables. Set in the 193