Chronicle
Friday, February 3rd, 2012Upon exiting the theater after seeing Chronicle a couple days ago, fellow That Was Junk writer Josh asked me, “So, why was it called Chronicle?” After struggling to think up a logical answer, we both came to the conclusion that it was honestly the coolest word they could think of to generally describe the movie: [...]
jat59072′s Year End List-O-Rama 2011
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012If it weren’t already apparent with the announcement of this year’s Academy Award nominees last week, it’d be hard to deny how lame a year it was for movies 2011 was. That’s not to say that there weren’t a few good movies to pull from the pile, but when you realize your movie of the [...]
Man On A Ledge?
Saturday, January 28th, 2012At some point over the last year, I decided that when I wrote a review for this website, I was going to try and be professional, always backing up my judgments on whatever movie I was criticizing with fair and objective reasoning. But then it came to my attention that this is a really boring [...]
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Friday, January 27th, 2012The rules that define a horror movie have long since moved past simply including a scary monster, spooky sound effects, and black cats jumping out from off-screen. Surprisingly, many of the better horror movies over the last few years have gotten far more subtle, creating a long, drawn out sense of dread that gives way [...]
DOUBLE REVIEW: Hugo/The Artist
Saturday, December 31st, 2011With the announcement that several film production companies are phasing out a number of their product lines in the next few years, and the ever increasing obsession the world seems to have with the next big wave of technology, it would appear that the old wave of studio filmmaking is slowly falling into obscurity. As [...]
WE BOUGHT A ZOO
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011Cameron Crowe seems to thrive on creating movies that border on the schmaltzy, but tend to strain the edge without ever going over, always staying on the right side of romantic, without ever getting too “romantic comedy”. Sure, there were a few missteps, most notably Elizabethtown, which found its underdeveloped and averagely acted leads falling [...]
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn!
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011Full disclosure: I, jat59072, am a huge fan of Tintin, and have been since I was seven years old. I have read all of the books, named my dog after Tintin’s terrier, Snowy, and have a French poster for The Blue Lotus hanging in my bedroom. Ever since I first laid my eyes on the [...]
My Favorite Movies #8: The Muppet Movie/The Muppets
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011One of the greatest feelings in the world has got to be discovering in adulthood that something you loved in your youth is actually, legitimately good. It’s so easy for someone to be blinded by nostalgia, pleasant memories surrounding an old song or an amusement park ride, that to re-experience it after gaining a greater [...]
Happy Feet TWO?!
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011The term “family film” is often used in a derogatory fashion, usually when referencing some new movie involving kids, animals, or a decidedly inoffensive element (alien, magical creature, etc.) that is singing, dancing, or both. Normally, these kinds of movies are dismissed by “serious” film buffs due to their lack of any complex characters or [...]
The Descendants
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011Alexander Payne is no stranger to grief. As with his titular character’s journey after the death of his wife in About Schmidt, all of his movies feature protagonists who face the possibility that their lives are not the lives they’d like to be living, often following them as they valiantly struggle against the current situation [...]