Isaac's Film Reviews

Hungry for more Film review by Isaac Handelman Following the trend set by Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hobbit , Mockingjay is the latest literary sensation to see multiple films devoted to its adaptation. Next year’s Mockingjay - Part 2 will serve as the finale of the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise, but for now we’re being treated to a consolation prize in the form of Mockingjay - Part 1 . What’s here is almost exactly what you’d expect: too little content stretched across too many minutes, rescued by the strong performances, memorable characters and high production values that we have come to expect out of the franchise. Katniss takes a return visit to District 12. Picking up right after Catching Fire , Mockingjay - Part 1 finds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her buddies Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and Plutarch (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) within the confines of the elusive District 13. Unfortunately, Katniss isn’t feeling too friendly towards her friends; ...

Larger than life Film review by Isaac Handelman In a drastic departure from the return-to-fairytale-roots of last year’s Frozen , Disney’s latest animated effort, Big Hero 6 , takes its inspiration from an obscure Marvel Comics property dating back to the late 1990s. The film’s geeky origins have been watered down to appeal to a family-oriented audience, but Big Hero 6 still packs enough charm and ingenuity to stand out as a solid Disney effort, and one that’s sure to have a wide demographic appeal. Big Hero 6 is full of characters, but the true star of the show is the setting. The bluntly named “San Fransokyo” is a gleaming metropolis that blends elements of eastern and western culture in a way that’s rarely seen. The combination of beautiful Californian vistas with Japanese urban influences makes for a refreshing change of scenery and plenty of creatively designed environments. It’s the sort of one-of-a-kind place that makes me yearn for a sequel just because I want to se...

Where no film has gone before Film review by Isaac Handelman After taking us deep into the human mind for his previous original directorial outing, Christopher Nolan has reversed course, propelling viewers to the farthest reaches of the universe in his latest “I”-word titled blockbuster. Interstellar is beyond grand; its scale is so immense that, even given its gargantuan three-hour runtime, the sheer scope of the film can be difficult to wrap one’s head around. Spanning from rural America to a mystical galaxy beyond the Milky Way, Interstellar ’s imperfections are downplayed by its astonishing ambition, breathtaking visuals, and surprising emotional sophistication. At an unidentified point in the near-future, humanity has exhausted most of Earth’s natural resources, with food and oxygen lined up as the next to go. NASA-pilot-turned-corn-farmer Cooper (McConaughey) is soon guided back to his career roots, employed by Dr. Brand (Caine) of NASA to lead a mission through...

Chills, thrills, and crazy pills Film review by Isaac Handelman Nightcrawler ’s title sounds almost like that of a horror film, which is deceptive, as the film definitely does not fall into the aforementioned genre. Incidentally, Nightcrawler can be very scary -- thanks not to the presence of any ghosts, goblins, or masked murderers, but due to the dark, slow-building picture of psychopathy that it paints. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the subject of this portrait, but to say that he simply plays a character feels like a disservice to his performance. Gyllenhaal embodies Lou Pool, the petty thief whose rise to prominence is chronicled in Nightcrawler . Pool, at the start of the film relegated to shaking down security guards for wristwatches, soon finds real money to be made capturing on-site video recordings of criminal activity on the streets of Los Angeles, called “nightcrawling.” Swept up in the media frenzy, Lou soon finds himself taking dark detours on the path towards suc...