BRIAN ORNDORF

Month: October 2009

  • Film Review – Whip It

    WHIP IT Ellen Page

    I’ll give director Drew Barrymore this: she made Ellen Page appealing. “Whip It” takes the tart-tongued “Juno” star to the crashin’, smashin’ world of roller derby for a coming-of-age dramedy that bites off a little more than it can chew. Energetically woven by Barrymore, the film suffers from an acute case of the adaptation blues, trying to cram in as many plot points as possible to fill its belly with caloric melodrama. It’s a diluted journey of feminine self-realization, better with bruises and teamwork than it is with pliable matters of the heart.

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  • Film Review – Trick ‘r Treat

    TRICK R TREAT Anna Paquin

    Michael Dougherty’s “Trick ‘r Treat” is the antidote to all the horror nonsense that rains down this time of year, preying on the macabre appetites of permissive genre fans. Wicked and inventive, this anthology film is the perfect centerpiece to any Halloween celebration, supplying viewers with substantial frights, laughs, and discomfort to help encourage the spooky season. Instead of participating in the yearly nonsense of “Saw,” give “Trick ‘r Treat” a spin instead. It’s one of the best horror films of the year and a perfect addition to the holiday.

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  • Film Review – Toy Story & Toy Story 2 3-D Double Feature

    TOY STORY 3-D Banner

    There’s no anniversary or birthday to celebrate here. Disney is just taking the “Toy Story” franchise out for a test drive, kicking the tires while “Toy Story 3” prepares to assault family moviegoing budgets next summer. Redressed in the trendy 3-D format, 1995’s “Toy Story” and 1999’s “Toy Story 2” are invading theaters again, this time as a snazzy double feature — a multiplex value meal if you will. This rerelease allows audiences not only a chance to reacquaint themselves with lovable old friends, but also to view the vibrant Pixar-crafted toy world with an extra dimension, refreshing dusty animation with a welcome high-tech polish. 

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  • Film Review – Zombieland

    ZOMBIELAND Harrelson Emma Stone

    Bloody, quippy, high tech, and pop culture savvy, “Zombieland” is a pre-packaged cult sensation. It’s a dizzying geek event righteously lubed up for heated message board debate, ironic t-shirts, and bountiful midnight screenings. Thankfully, the movie has ample cockeyed spirit to back up the exclusionary reaction it will undoubtedly generate. It’s a brief, barreling, jaw-cracking action picture, good for a few sizable laughs and some prime examples of splattery zombie-killing business. It’s a horror-comedy done proper, taking a far more endearing, freewheeling stance when it comes to busting open the undead, revealing there’s still some life left in the densely populated zombie genre.

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  • Film Review – The Invention of Lying

    INVENTION OF LYING Gervais Garner Louis CK

    Weirdness hits immediately in “The Invention of Lying.” The film equates the opposite of fibbing as some sort of unfiltered monologue, allowing the bearer of bad news to barf up every last unkind thought they’ve ever owned. That’s not lying. But that’s nitpicking, which is like bringing a gun to this knife fight. A softly considered religious farce, “Lying” is light on the laughs and smothering with its mockery, making for an uneven picture that’s too consumed with its own cleverness to launch a proper satiric sneak attack on the audience.

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