FilmMattic

The Bay of Pigs       The Bay of Pigs invasion may have been unsuccessful back in 1961, but, in 2011, the world has successfully become victims of a new kind of invasion: The Bay of Pigging Out. Special effects overload, Check; Spectacular destruction, Check; More explosions than you'd see in a Cold War era nuclear test facility, Check; A clumsy narrative, Check; Gigantic robot carnage, Check; Stylized CGI on a colossal scale matched only by running time (a not-so-brisk 157 minutes), Check; Indefensible one-liners, Check; More slow motion effects than August Musger, its inventor, could have ever dreamed, Check; Actors named Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley giving the audience a smooching sendoff, Check on the Checker. But here's the thing. I actually enjoyed it; not the kissing, the movie. Attention deficit of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish, so long as Michael Benjamin Bay is running the show. If plausibly ludicrous (an ox...

Suckered Into a Film But Not The Punch "At its sincerest essence, Sucker Punch is a film mightily heavy on stylization, but morbidly bear on substance."       Zack Snyder's latest cinematic exploit (no pun intended) has been met with a furious onslaught of sneering criticism. The question I had to reconcile in my head, to avoid any damning preexisting bias, is can an awareness of negative expectations severely impact an unfettered viewing of a film? The answer is, of course, a resounding yes, but in my case only slightly.

You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry...Birds!         The boys at Rooster Teeth Productions , a diverse consortium of comedic talent, put together another video. The video is a dually motivated trailer for the extraordinarily popular mobile video game, Angry Birds . While trying to maintain the consistently hilarious parodying qualities of past Rooster Teeth Shorts, the video is intended as a live-action feature film directed (but not actually) by the Wesleyan Graduate behind the immensely successful Transformers, Michael -Keep-Him-At- Bay (this may be the only time I am this kind when referencing Bay; keep reading to see if I hold true to this claim). Well regrettably, the guys at Rooster Teeth disappoint, as both of these key elements (overtures of Bay's direction or a hint of hilarity) are conspicuously lacking.