Isaac's Film Reviews

Think of The Adventures of Tintin as a sort of consolation prize for those who were disappointed with the fourth Indiana Jones movie. It seems a tad arbitrary for the legendary Steven Spielberg to tackle the big-screen adaptation of a Belgian comic series, and the film has lost many of its cultural flourishes because of this. However, this new version of the classic tales is a solid piece of material in its own right, liberally offering up visceral action and a well-scripted mystery. Tintin centers on Tintin, a young reporter with a knack for getting himself into danger. We’re given a glimpse of the character’s past through some old newspaper clippings pasted to his walls, chronicling past adventures with his trusty canine sidekick, Snowy. Rather suddenly, Tintin stumbles upon his next big story when he purchases a model sailing ship, the Unicorn at a market. The ship holds deeper implications, Tintin discovers, as he uncovers historical ties to the Unicorn ’s downfall, during ...

Aside from a few exceptions, such as 2003’s Elf , the prestige of being deemed a Christmas classic has been mostly reserved for Rankin/Bass’s 1960s stop-motion efforts as well as a select few 20th century feature films, like A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life . Aardman Animation, the folks behind Chicken Run and the Wallace & Gromit cartoons aim to change that with their latest release, Arthur Christmas , a holiday film so gleefully original that it leaves a silly smile pasted onto the viewer’s face all the way through. Like any regular family, it turns out the Clauses are rather dysfunctional. The current Santa has allowed his son Steve to modernize Christmas, antiquating the sleigh and reindeer used by Santa’s father Grand Santa, who preceded the current big man. When one child’s gift fails to get delivered, Arthur, the odd brother of the family, sets out with Grand Santa and his old sleigh and reindeer to see to it that the girl’s gift is delivered.  The f...

Some criticized Guy Ritchie’s 2009 Sherlock Holmes for turning the legendary detective into an action hero. I was firmly on the opposite side of this spectrum. I embraced the modern interpretation of Holmes as a self-contained re-imagining of the character. It seems enough of the audience agreed with me, and here we are with A Game of Shadows. The action has been turned up to eleven here, culminating in a rigorously intense and stylishly edited chase through a forest. Unfortunately, lost in translation is an end of the deal that made 2009’s Holmes such a grand ride: the unpredictable, dark, imaginative mystery. After perfecting his vision of the detective himself, the natural next step for Ritchie was to tackle Holmes’ arch-nemesis, Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). This time around, Watson’s plans to settle down and marry are interrupted when Sherlock’s shenanigans land the duo in the midst of Moriarty’s scheme to begin a world war. Assisting is gypsy Simza (Noomi Rapace)...

So, what do you get when you take the aging Mission: Impossible brand, fluff it up with some returning characters and a few new ones, and hand it over to The Incredibles director Brad Bird for his live-action directory debut? The answer is Ghost Protocol , the fourth entry in a series many presumed dead due to its five-year absence from multiplexes.  The filmmakers throw out a key ingredient that made the third film as solid as it was for Ghost Protocol : the intense, tangible and emotionally distressing threat, in favor of the more overarching threat of large portions of humanity ceasing to exist. After a routine mission gone wrong, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) finds himself and his team pegged as terrorists, blamed for the destruction of the Kremlin and as instigators of the seemingly inevitable nuclear war between Russia and the US. While some will criticize the formulaic nuclear threat, it never feels stale thanks to the clever backdrop involving the initiation of "ghost p...

In an era where CGI, animated spin-offs, sequels, reboots and cash-ins dominate the family-friendly cinema niche, it’s nice to see a film stray so far away from these norms. Not only is Martin Scorsese’s Hugo live-action, but it contains no apparent antagonist, an intriguing mystery instead of your usual good versus evil, and a smartly written tale of youthful discovery, all of which combine under Scorsese’s watchful eye to create a truly memorable cinematic experience. Hugo may not be derived from any well known brand, but the talent at hand here - both in front of and behind the camera - ensure that this is not a film to be missed, even in the midst of a very busy pre-holiday market. Naturally, Hugo centers on Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a young boy in 1920s-era Paris. After his father dies in a fire, Hugo is left to fend for himself in a grand train station. When not evading the station inspector (Sacha Baron-Cohen), Hugo is tinkering with gears and attempting to repair an a...

After thirty years, the Muppets have finally made a mainstream return in the form of Disney’s The Muppets , a re-imagining  of the beloved children's’ series starring lovable hand puppets of all shapes and sizes. This time, the formula is injected with a modern twist in the form of a plot that tries valiantly to follow both the exploits of a human couple with ties to the Muppets, and the troubles of the living puppets themselves. This gamble only partially pays off, however. Neither story feels fully realized and both tales end up feeling rather incomplete by the time the credits roll. Based in a world where the living puppets are more or less accepted in society and are never questioned or pointed out as abnormal, the film centers around puppet Walter and his friend (brother?) Gary (Jason Segel), who is planning a vacation to Los Angeles with his longtime girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams). He happily takes Walter along for the trip to see the now run-down Muppet Studios, which...

When was the last time Eddie Murphy made you laugh? How long has it been since Matthew Broderick was is a movie of considerable quality? And who would have thought that - given comedic powerhouse Ben Stiller’s starring presence - these two arguably burnt-out talents would be the highlights of the year’s best action-comedy, a genre that rarely gets put to use and, rarer still, sees a final product as solid as this one? These are the questions I had walking out of Tower Heist , a movie with a blatantly straightforward title and creativity foaming out of its pores. It’s far from perfect, but Heist delivers right where it counts. Ben Stiller stars as Josh Kovacs, manager of the fanciest hotel in New York City, appropriately deemed “The Tower”. When the hotel’s billionaire owner Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is accused of fraud, effectively negating the staff’s salaries and retirement funds, a small group of angry workers led by Kovacs recruit streetwise criminal Slide (Eddie Murphy) to h...

There are a lot of things wrong with In Time . In some cases it’s poorly scripted, it doesn’t put its fictional world to use in all the ways it should, the visual effects are far from stellar, and it often takes itself too seriously. Take a second to put these problems aside, and you’re left with a perfectly enjoyable, intriguing thriller that mostly delivers where it counts during this slow time in the Hollywood year. The film is set in a dystopian future where time is the new currency. Humans are now genetically engineered to stop aging at twenty-five. From there, they get one year to figure out what to do with their lives and to get their hands on some more time, or die when their clock hits zero. Justin Timberlake, fresh off his stellar performance in last year’s The Social Network , takes on the role of Will Salas, a twenty-eight year old living day-to-day on his clock, earning enough hours each day to survive the next. Everything changes when, through an admittedly unexpe...

Billy Beane is a man of his word. He fights fiercely for his ideals but never gets too cocky and always keeps his vision in sight. Where Moneyball thrives is in exploring the man’s persona, and the many choices that drove his team to success. I’d be lying if I told you Moneyball isn’t about baseball. But it’s also about the fight against a flawed system and the gambles that life requires. It’s about victory, defeat, and everything in between. To put it simply, Moneyball could be perceived as your typical melodramatic sports drama, but in reality it’s anything but this. At the end of the day this is a uniquely incredible cinematic experience. The film centers on Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane. After a disappointing end to a strong 2001 season, the team loses its key components in the form of three all-star players. Beane comes across fledgling industry analyst Peter Brand and his unorthodox theories regarding the proper way to build a winning team. Seeing potential in B...

It's been quite the blockbuster season, and I have reached the end of my summer review schedule. That means no new reviews will be coming until the Fall season. But before it's over, we'll look back on the past three months of cinema. Three films in the space of just three months have broken in to the Top 10 Worldwide Grossers of All Time list. Four big-budget, highly anticipated superhero adaptations arrived. The finale to one of the most successful multi-media franchises of all time flew into cinemas. We were treated to the usual barrage of sequels, prequels, and threequels, and series-starters. Some flopped. Some exceeded all expectations. But what came out on top? And what films skidded to a halt at the bottom of a huge heap of disappointed fans? In this overview I'll isolate the best and worst offerings of 2011's summer film season. Keep in mind that winners do not necessarily represent the nominee that I gave the highest (or lowest) score to . BEST FILM OF ...