Isaac's Film Reviews

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...