Isaac's Film Reviews

Not as adorable as you'd think. Full spoiler-free review by Isaac Handelman As comedian Seth MacFarlane’s first motion picture following the massive success of Family Guy , Ted ’s got its work cut out for it. What’s here is much of what you’d suspect out of MacFarlane and company -- it’s crass, it’s crude, it’s immature, and, at certain points, it’s unbelievably hilarious. But MacFarlane’s inexperience in the world of cinema pops up a tad too often here, resulting in a narrative that, rather unsurprisingly, can’t sustain itself through a film’s runtime. Mark Wahlberg stars as John, who made a wish as a little boy for his Christmas gift, a teddy bear, to come to life. His wish was granted, and he’s now a thirty-five year old grown man whose best friend is still his teddy bear, albeit possessing a, ahem, rich vocabulary, some moderately filthy behavior and a brilliantly animated appearance that blends almost perfectly with the human characters; it’s often difficult to rea...

This Recall remake needs a redo. Full spoiler-free review by Isaac Handelman The black and white color scheme, identical nature and godawful aim of  Total Recall ’s robotic police force, or “synthetics”, immediately call to mind   the Stormtroopers of  Star Wars ; if only 2012’s  Total Recall  remake packed the necessary ingenuity to back up its admittedly intriguing premise would we have anything near the level of the iconic 1977 sci-fi masterpiece. That’s not the case. What’s presented here is so utterly faceless, so painfully generic that it’s oftentimes difficult to realize that the film is still reasonably entertaining. This  Total Recall  takes a detour from Mars and sets itself entirely on Earth, where chemical warfare has rendered most of the planet’s land uninhabitable. The only livable portions remaining are the United Federation of Britain and the landmass once known as Australia, now dubbed simply “The Colony”. Colin Farrell takes...

It's here. Does Christopher Nolan's landmark grand finale deliver on the promise of its predecessors? Full review by Isaac Handelman No movie is perfect. The mark of a great film is not a lack of flaws -- rather, its ability to overcome its flaws, and not let its missteps drag it down. It would be easy to criticize  The Dark Knight Rises  for being many things -- slow to start, a tad incoherent at certain points and slightly derivative at others, too loud, or lacking in closure. And you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong in these accusations. But I pity the person who dwells on these petty annoyances. They’d be missing out;  Rises  is a dark, grand, enormously ambitious finale to a saga that’s sure to be hailed as one of modern cinema’s greatest. Rises  picks up eight years after the events of  The Dark Knight . Batman’s taken the blame for the murders Harvey Dent committed, and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become a social recluse, spe...

Same powers, new responsibilities Full review by Isaac Handelman What’s perhaps most remarkable about  The Amazing Spider-Man  is the fact that it works at all. 2002’s film adaptation of the web-slinging hero was such a wild success, both critically and commercially, that Sony's decision to reboot the franchise a mere decade later was a questionable one at best. So, naturally, the real question for many is simply, “Is  The Amazing Spider-Man  as good as  Spider-Man ?” I’d have to respond with another question: does it really matter? This version of the web-head’s tale finds Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) more deeply embedded in day-to-day high school life, and still haunted by the sudden mysterious departure of his parents when he was young. He feels compelled to delve into his father’s studies at Oscorp with Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), more specifically the area of cross-species genetics. Hence Peter eventually receiving spider-like superpowers, as...

Can Pixar change its fate? Full review by Isaac Handelman This isn’t the first time Pixar has been faced with the hefty task of proving, after a disappointing outing the previous year, that it’s still capable of capturing its signature brand of cinematic magic that’s been pleasing people of all ages for fifteen years. In fact, for many,  Brave  hasn’t been so much anticipated based on its own trailers and previews as much as it has been thanks to the need of the collective moviegoer to know whether Pixar’s strong cinematic vision has been recaptured after last year’s mediocre  Cars 2 . That lands the film in a somewhat awkward place as it releases in the midst of a season full of giant superhero sequels and big-budget action outings.  Brave  stars Merida, a spunky, rebellious young princess who flat-out refuses to accept the suitors brought forth to her from neighboring clans. Her mother, Queen Elinor, insists upon her betrothal while her father, the amu...

Big things have small beginnings. Full review by Isaac Handelman At times, Prometheus feels uncannily similar to Alien . Admittedly, Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi and the 1979 sci-fi/horror masterpiece have quite a bit in common: a director, a genre -- heck, they even share a universe. Contrary to all of this, Scott has been quick to shut down speculation that Prometheus is simply an Alien prequel. Despite Prometheus’ cosmetic similarities to its spiritual successor, Scott is absolutely just in this claim; Prometheus explores some intriguing lore and brings up a few biting emotional questions , neither of which Alien was created to explore. Describing  Prometheus  is difficult without giving too much away. The film follows the ship  Prometheus  on her voyage to an undiscovered planet, which a few archaeologists have reason to believe contains secrets of our creation. After a somewhat slow start, their expedition goes horribly wrong, and the team of seven...

Who's the fairest of them all? Full review by Isaac Handelman Somewhere along in their advertising campaign for Snow White and the Huntsman , the folks over at Universal decided, in the middle of a trailer, to declare that “This is no fairytale”. That’s a blatant lie. In fact, this movie has fairies in it. Literally: fairies . No, this is definitely a fairytale, and it puts to use a good many cliches from fairytales past. This incarnation of Snow White tries very hard to distance  -- not remove -- itself from other, more traditional fairytales. Mostly, that means Huntsman is darker, more visceral, and much more violent than your average princess pic. But don’t let that trick you; it’s still a princess pic. It’s got a love triangle, an ultimate evil, a bunch of bizarre, arbitrary fantastical moments, and even true love’s kiss. Thankfully, it’s also somewhat enjoyable. Snow White takes place in a nondescript kingdom set in a generic fantasyland. It seems to be quite an over...