The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
I would classify things in this category that were related to arts, literature, cinema, performance. Things that make us and the world better.
This is a powerful, heartfelt, emotionally moving, human drama with two very talented actors who pour themselves into the story. It lives up to it’s promises, and is definitely one of the best films of the year. If you’re looking for an inspiring story, then look no further. This is Director Joe Wright’s best film. It is an extremely well told story, and worth every minute you spend in the theater.
Read moreAs Jackie Treehorn laments in The Big Lebowski, pornos these days lack plot, and production values, and feelings. Kevin Smith’s “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” would make Jackie quite proud. “Zack and Miri” gets very good performances from everybody and it manages to do what a lot of romantic comedies this year have not been able to do, which is earn the laughs and earn the love of it’s two characters. It’s funny and fun and worth every minute.
Read moreFor sometime I had felt like, based on the trailer, that it would be a stupid movie. Then I read a few reviews, and it got reviews very different from my expectations. Lay and I were both surprised at how much we liked this movie.
Read moreThe concept is an intriguing one…this idea of being able to teleport one’s self to anywhere in the world. What a fun power that would be, and lead character, David, discovers the power during his high school days, and heads off to from an unhappy home to learn to use his power. It’s not terrible, but it certainly goes to low-end of my scale.
Read moreSometimes you just have to have a lite moment in the day. Here it is.
Read moreHenry Darger, an elderly recluse, spent his childhood in Illinois’s asylum for feeble-minded children and his adulthood working as a janitor. He lived a quiet, nearly solitary existence, but his imaginary life was exciting, colorful and sexually provocative. When he died in Chicago in 1973, his landlady discovered in his room 300 paintings, some over 10 feet long, and a 15,000-page illustrated novel (The Realms of the Unreal), which told the epic story of the virtuous Vivian Girls leading a child slave revolt against the evil Glandelinians. Featuring Dakota Fanning (Hide and Seek) and Larry Pine (The Royal Tenenbaums) as narrators and imaginative animation of Darger’s work, Oscar® winner Jessica Yu (Breathing Lessons) brings to life one of the twentieth century’s greatest self-taught artists. This is a very interesting story with a surprising dose of an undercurrent of suspense about what will happen next. It was worth watching.
Read moreTheater director Caden Cotard is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis, is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel has prematurely run aground. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. Worth watching, but be prepared to have to think. I’m still trying to decipher the meaning of the burning house.
Read moreBorn to race cars, Speed Racer is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized – the legendary Rex Racer, whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed’s thundering Mach 5. Despite liking John Goodman and Susan Sarandon, I really had no interest in seeing this film. We had downloaded it via the Tivo from Amazon Unboxed for Lay’s nephews to watch this weekend when they were over.
Read moreA single, suburban dad tries to make ends meet as a security officer at a New Jersey mall. It’s a job he takes very seriously, though no one else does. When Santa’s helpers at the mall stage a coup, shutting down the megaplex and taking hostages (Paul’s daughter and sweetheart among them), Jersey’s most formidable mall cop will have to become a real cop to save the day.
Read moreForced to grapple with old relationships, broken hopes and a country divided over the war, TK, Cheaver and Colee discover that home is not quite what they remembered, and that the unlikely companionship they’ve found might be what matters the most.
Read moreDetective Dave Robicheaux is trying to link the murder of a local hooker to New Orleans mobster Julie Balboni. But during his investigation Robicheaux is led into a series of surreal encounters with a troop of Confederate soldiers.
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