Author Archives: Nat Almirall

Movie Review: ‘The Croods’

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Nat Almirall

Silly, silly fun. There’s not much of a plot — The Croods are a family of cave-dwellers whose home is threatened by earthquakes; the dad Grug (Nicolas Cage) is over protective; the daughter Eep (Emma Stone) is curious; they meet … Continue reading →

Posted in Animation, Dreamworks, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Animation, Catherine Keener, Chris Sanders, Clark Duke, Cloris Leachman, emma stone, John Cleese, Kirk De Micco, Nicolas Cage, Randy Thorn, Ryan Reynolds, The Croods | 1 Comment

Movie Review: ‘Olympus Has Fallen’

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Nat Almirall

Die Hard on a White House. That’s basically it right there. You have your former law enforcer — here his name is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) and he used to be Secret Service assigned to protect the President (Aaron Eckhart). … Continue reading →

Posted in Action, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Antoine Fuqua, Ashley Judd, Cole Hauser, Creighton Rothenberger, Dylan McDermott, Finley Jacobsen, Freddy Bosche, Gerard Butler, James Ingersoll, Katrin Benedikt, Keong Sim, Kevin Moon, Lance Broadway, Malana Lea, Melissa Leo, Millennium Films, Morgan Freeman, Phil Austin, Radha Mitchell, Rick Yune, Robert Forster, Sam Medina, Sean O'Bryan, Tory Kittle | 25 Comments

Movie Review: ‘Spring Breakers’

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Nat Almirall

Lest we forget, Spring Breakers writer/director Harmony Korine is the guy who got his start writing Larry Clark’s Kids, a film whose characters drank, did drugs, had sex, beat up strangers — all very adult things — and was slapped … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Reviews | Tagged A24, Annapurna Pictures, Ash Lendzion, Ashley Benson, Gucci Mane, Harmony Korine, Heather Moriss, James Franco, Rachel Korine, Selena Gomez, Spring Breakers, The ATL Twins, Vanessa Hudgens | Comments Off

Movie Review: ‘Stoker’

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Nat Almirall

Stoker is a film at odds with itself. On paper, it’s a slick piece of neo-gothic thrills, parading its Jane-Eyre/Mysteries of Udolpho (and more) influences, with red rooms, sinister-seeming relatives, fogged-out basements, and driblets of blood. More plot-fully speaking, you … Continue reading →

Posted in Fox Searchlight, Horror, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Alden Eherneich, Dermot Mulroney, Gothic horror, Jacki Weaver, Judith Godreche, Lucas Till, Matthew Goode, Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Park Chan-Wook, Phyllis Somerville, Ralph Brown, Stoker, Wentworth Miller | Comments Off

Movie Review: ‘Dead Man Down’

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Nat Almirall

On the one hand, there’s a revenge thriller with shootouts, car chases, detective work, and a dynamite climax. On the other, there’s a woefully underwritten love story that can’t think of anything else but to have the leads stare at … Continue reading →

Posted in Action, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Andrew Stewart, Armand Assante, Colin Farrell, Declan Mulvey, Dominic Cooper, F. Murray Abraham, Frank G, Frequency Film, IM Global, Isabelle Huppert, J.H. Wyman, James Biberi, John Cenatiempo, Luis Da Silva, Niels Arden Oplev, Noomi Rapace, Original Film, Roy James, Stephen Hill Aaron Vexler, Terrence Howard, Wade Barrett, William Zielinski, WWE Studios | 2 Comments

Movie Review: ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Nat Almirall

What the Hell is going on? Who’s in what car? Which one is the bad guy? These are the questions that arose during the first fifteen minutes of A Good Day to Die Hard‘s car chase. That the action confuses … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th Century Fox, Action, Movies, Reviews | Tagged 20th Century Fox, A Good Day to Die Hard John McClane, Action, Amaury Nolasco, Bruce Willis, Cole Hauser, Ganxsta Zolee, Ivan Kamaras, Jai Courtney, John Moore, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Melissa Tang, Pavel Lychnikoff, Radivoje Bukvic, Sebastian Koch, Sergei Kolesnikov, Skip Woods, Yuliya Snigir | 1 Comment

Movie Review: ‘Side Effects’

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Nat Almirall

Side Effects is the perfect response to Broken City and Promised Land, two films that offered great potential but drowned themselves in shallowness, eschewing dimension and complexity to make the bad guys really bad while taking their message as inherently … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Mystery and Suspense, Reviews | Tagged Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Open Road Films, Rooney Mara, Scott Z. Burns, Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh, Thrillers | Comments Off

Movie Review: ‘Stand Up Guys’

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Nat Almirall

So many actors, so little interest. Stand Up Guys follows a day in the life of aging mobsters Val (Al Pacino) and Doc (Christopher Walken), specifically the day after Val’s released from a 28-year stint in prison. Val’s eager to … Continue reading →