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By Arty Chick, on February 6th, 2010
 The Hurt Locker is one of those films that came and went without much fanfare, and then when all the awards nominations began to come out, it was on just about everyone’s list as best film of the year. (It received 9 Oscar nominations.) Fortunately, it is now out on DVD.
What sets this movie apart from most other “war films” is the silence. Instead of loud testosterone-driven battle scenes, The Hurt Locker is about the quiet, intense moments that are the norm for an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit (EOD), a squad charged [... Keep reading]
By Arty Chick, on January 24th, 2010
 End of the world as we know it/post-apocalyptic cinema is all the rage these days and The Book of Eli is the latest addition to this genre. As post-apocalypse fare, it is a pretty entertaining flick. Then again, it stars charismatic Denzel Washington who is as usual a lot of fun to watch. This time he is Eli, a lone traveler in a color-drained world some 30 years after a nuclear blast scorched the earth. He is in possession of the last known copy of the King James Bible and is on a [... Keep reading]
By Arty Chick, on January 11th, 2010
 Terry Gilliam does not make mainstream movies. They are always quirky and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is no exception. Part of the strangeness this time is that (as anyone who has not been living in an underground lair is aware) Heath Ledger died while they were shooting and they had to come up with a way to finish it without him. So for three fantasy sequences in the movie (that somehow make perfect sense anyway), the character Tony meant to be portrayed by HL is played instead by Johnny [... Keep reading]
By Arty Chick, on December 25th, 2009
 If you go to Sherlock Holmes expecting anything resembling Basil Rathbone or any other incarnation of the staid Sherlock Holmes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books, you’ll be happily surprised (or sadly disappointed) by Guy Ritchie’s imaginative 21st century, testosterone driven, new version of the detective series. Watching Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson is a totally entertaining couple of hours.
Robert Downey’s Sherlock is anything but staid. He may be brilliant, but that British upper crust veneer that has been his usual cover is gone. This Sherlock is a brawling, drinking, [... Keep reading]
By Arty Chick, on December 24th, 2009
 I’ve heard it described as Dances with Aliens and that is a pretty good description, though I think Dances with Wolves had better character development. Avatar tells the story of a paraplegic soldier, Jake, who goes to the planet Pandora where evil corporate humans want to mine for a super-expensive, rare mineral, but the local population (Na’ vi) stands in the way. Jake is taking his dead brother’s place in a science program that infiltrates the Na’ vis by using avatars, earth people inhabiting Na’ vi bodies as they sleep in the lab. At first Jake is [... Keep reading]
By Mainstream Chick, on December 5th, 2009
 Simply put: If you liked Jerry Maguire or Antwone Fisher (both excellent films, by the way) then you’ll definitely like The Blind Side. It’s not so much a movie about football as it is a movie about human kindness, defining family, overcoming adversity, and beating the odds. In other words (if you’re a sap like me), bring Kleenex.
The Blind Side is based on the true story of NFL rookie Michael Oher before he joined the pros (go Ravens!). It chronicles Oher’s journey from a quiet, troubled, homeless teen to the adopted son of an affluent, compassionate, football-obsessed family in Memphis.
Newcomer [... Keep reading]
By Arty Chick, on November 18th, 2009
It was a rainy, cold afternoon and just seemed like the perfect day to pop into a warm, dry theater for some mindless entertainment, so I settled on 2012 mainly because I am a John Cusack fan. And if you’re looking for mindless, this is the film to see. But be forewarned, it is not your usual disaster flick; this one clocks in at 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The basic premise is that the earth is coming to an end; the Mayan prophecy was right. Some strange sunburst activity has created this neutrino effect that has [... Keep reading]
By Mainstream Chick, on October 24th, 2009
 The new biopic on the life and times of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart doesn’t crash and burn. But it doesn’t soar either. It just sort of taxis on the runway, gets some occasional lift, and glides back down again. Not the most exciting ride. And that’s disappointing, especially when you consider her remarkable story.
Earhart was an accomplished pilot and writer. She was an avid risk-taker. She was a role model. She broke records. She scored endorsement deals. She was a champion for other women fliers. She had a zest for life. And in 1937, she vanished in the South Pacific, [... Keep reading]
By anychick, on October 18th, 2009
 It’s a Chickflix first! Adventurous Chick, Arty Chick and Mainstream Chick all contributed to the $33 Million box office take for Where the Wild Things Are in its opening weekend, and each had her own views to share on the children’s-book-turned-live-action-movie. Rather than fight over who gets to (or has to) write the review, the Chicks hashed it out in a roundtable discussion. Here is how it went:
Adventurous Chick: I had been looking forward to this movie ever since I saw the preview months ago and I really, really, wanted to like it but I was kind of disappointed.
Arty Chick: [... Keep reading]
By Arty Chick, on September 20th, 2009
So, what is coming up this fall? More for the chicks, one can only hope. Usually, post-summer we get back to having adult fare and start the march to the Oscar race. The list below is wide releases. If you are in New York or Los Angeles, you will have a much wider choice. For the rest of us, there are a few gems and a bit of dreck. But that’s just my opinion. What do you think?
My choices as chickflix are marked with **. Others I would see are ***.
September [... Keep reading]
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What is Chickflix? In a nutshell, it’s a website/blog developed by three women on a mission to offer fun, informative, easy to digest movie reviews from a uniquely female perspective. (...more) |
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