TheRetroCritic

The loss of Roger Ebert in 2013 was a blow to anyone who knew him or respected his work. Whether you agreed with his reviews or not, here was a man who loved and understood film, who had a true passion for cinema and who inspired many, including this reviewer, to think further about the medium and show it the respect and attention it deserves. With Life Itself , Ebert himself receives the respect and attention he deserves. The film follows the man himself as he goes through rehabilitation in hospital, occasionally answering questions from the film's director Steve James. It's a tough watch as the documentary doesn't sugar-coat anything and Ebert often looks like he's in a great deal of pain but the fact he perseveres the way he does and still finds the strength to keep a sense of humour really shows an amount of courage that's hugely inspirational. The months leading up to the iconic critic's death are very emotional and heartbreaking as Chaz Ebert, Roger

Upon hearing that a movie adaptation of Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events starring Jim Carrey was in the works, I was excited to say the least. In case you don't already know: A Series Of Unfortunate Events is awesome. The books, I mean. The film... slightly less. Which is not to say that it's bad in any way or that I don't like it, quite the opposite. It's just that the film's overall more lighthearted approach took a lot out of what claimed to be a dark, super-downbeat tale of how unfair, cruel and miserable the world can be to innocents who deserve better. The film's admittedly clever opening, which tricks us into watching a ridiculously cute, colourful and happy cartoon before slapping us in the face with a rather gloomy Jude Law voice over and warning us about the unpleasantness of the story about to follow, is perfect and captures the spirit of the books really well. While characters in the film refer to some horrible things t

From Bryan Johnson comes a black comedy with more than just a little edge to it. Vulgar sees a pathetic, down-and-out clown, played by Clerks ' Brian O'Halloran, respond to an ad which would require him to perform a joke at a bachelor's party only to find that a psychotic father and his two sons are planning to rape him. Now that's a synopsis! Must have been a shoo-in pitch at Lionsgate Entertainment. Who would have thought that Shakes The Clown and I Spit On Your Grave would combine their plots to create a whole new movie? The depiction of Will "Flappy" Carson's (O'Halloran) unpleasant day-to-day life is handled with a sarcastic sense of humour at first with his mother being so over-the-top vile and his job not exactly working out the way he was hoping it would. Bryan Johnson himself also pops up here and there as Will's best friend to cheer him up or shoot the shit. Then the film takes such a dark detour that, right there and the

Alright... What was all that fuss about, then? The Interview certainly made an impact lately, to say the least. For a moment there, it looked like this Seth Rogen comedy was going to start WWIII! Who would have thought that a film designed to royally piss off North Korea would end up royally pissing off North Korea?! Indeed The Interview's basic premise, two idiots being hired by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un, clearly wasn't aiming for subtle political satire. I mean, if it was, talk about a major misstep! The film sees James Franco play Dave Skylark, the cheesy TV host of a trashy talk show, being invited by the Supreme Leader to interview him. Skylark and his producer Aaron (Seth Rogen) are soon hired by the CIA for a mission involving the killing of Un during the interview. Why the U.S. government would want two well-known morons to take on such a dangerous mission is unclear but I guess suspension of disbelief and all that. I mean, up to that point

I say, old bean, isn't it frightfully late in the day for a spot of Mortdecai ? After all, the novels this new film is based on were written back in the 70's, the whole character of Charlie Mortdecai feels like an Inspector Clouseau-esque creation from the mid-60's and, regretfully, the great Terry Thomas is no longer with us. Where was Mortdecai when he would have made sense? Oh well, at least we have Johnny Depp having tons of fun with yet another cartoonish British accent and we have some form of Mortdecai movie, even if the whole retro feel I was hoping for is lost due to a current setting and some cruder jokes. By ignoring the obvious visual style appropriate to this type of film, this means it moves at a faster, more modern audience-friendly pace but it also means that Mortdecai as a character makes no sense and that there's constantly something missing from the movie. Even Catch Me If You Can had a cool 60's-style opening titles sequence! Mortdecai

Time to go Into The Woods ! And home before dark.

In this 49th episode, Adam (aka The RetroCritic) and fellow film buff Jamie discuss movie news, review Foxcatcher  and talk retro stuff. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes  and now  Stitcher  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

I finally review the one and only Birdman . KAH!

If you go watch Into The Woods today... You might leave with mixed feelings. Adapting Stephen Sondheim's musical to the big screen was always going to be a challenge seeing as the whole thing's like one big song sung by loads of main characters, each of them doing their own thing at the same time around a purposely convoluted plot. As the film is an hour shorter than the play, a lot of songs and plot threads were always going to get the chop and this could have easily destroyed a film with a lot of potential. Luckily, director Rob Marshall has his share of experience making movie musicals ( Chicago , Nine ) so he keeps the film afloat through succesfully capturing the essence of the stage play and getting the best out of his all-star cast. The songs are as endearing and catchy as ever from the long opening ensemble number "Prologue: Into The Woods" to the heartbreaking "Stay With Me" and the upbeat "Giants In The Sky", not to mention The Wo

Gothamized  is a completely unofficial guide to new series  Gotham  and a debate arena for all things Batman. CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE In this 15th episode, we discuss the 11th episode of  Gotham , The Electrocutioner, Tom Hardy and we finally review Birdman . (for my written review of the Gotham Pilot,  click here! ) Hope you enjoy it! You can also find us on podcast  The Big Rewind  (available on iTunes) and send us emails with your Bat-questions, Six Degrees challenges and riddles here:  gothamized@gmail.com (for the pilot episode  CLICK HERE )