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Bolt (2008)
Fully Awesome. Ridonculous. Let It Begin.

Bolt is the star of the biggest show in Hollywood. The only problem is, he thinks it's real. After he's accidentally shipped to New York City and separated from Penny, his beloved co-star and owner, Bolt must harness all his "super powers" to find a way home.

Locked Door is a children‘s film in the modern mould. That means it has to have cinematic values that affect and impress, and at the same time sport an acceptable message. Usually it about the value of family and finding self; here it is both....


Published November 23, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Filmmaker(s): Charlie Kaufman

A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

Death of a Playwright am thrilled by this film: all the wonderful narrative devices that I find delicious and engaging, and this time turned to have an effect on the viewer that is not to be lost lightly. He's wonderful. But I'm amazed at the writers...


Published November 30, 2024
| Categorised as Fours, IMDB Comments |
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Tropic Thunder (2008)
Get Some.
Filmmaker(s): Ben Stiller

A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

Three, Five, Eight seen to be only eight ways for humans to reference themselves. Only 5 are considered possible though I have encountered six I believe. Rarely, three are present here. Robert Downey Jr is an actor on-screen. We never lose sight that it is he....


Published November 30, 2024
| Categorised as Fours, IMDB Comments |
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I-Be Area (2007)
Filmmaker(s): Ryan Trecartin

Dazzling and raucous, Ryan Trecartin's first feature-length video takes cues from chat rooms, social networking web sites, YouTube, John Waters, and Pee-wee’s Playhouse, and then turns them upside down and inside out to create an entirely singular video genre. In I-BE AREA, Trecartin intertwines the stories of an incredible ensemble cast to follow a day in the life of I-BE II, the rebellious clone of I-BE.

Gen R should know that I have a great deal of patience for extreme films. I watched “The Falls” twice in one day. I dug through Matthew Barney, and patiently dug out some gems. I see merit in the early Jarman stuff. Korrine interests me....


Published May 17, 2022
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Ones |
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Hitman (2007)
Most believe his very existence is a sin. But others know he is a necessary evil.
Filmmaker(s): Xavier Gens

A genetically engineered assassin with deadly aim, known only as "Agent 47" eliminates strategic targets for a top-secret organization. But when he's double-crossed, the hunter becomes the prey as 47 finds himself in a life-or-death game of international intrigue.

Clones found this solid and competent. The curious thing is that what it did well, it did not because of what it is, but because it did not stick closely to the world of the video game. This is also why the fan base rejected...


Published November 26, 2022
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
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King Corn (2007)
You Are What You Eat.
Filmmaker(s): Aaron Woolf

King Corn is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom – corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, two college buddies return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America. With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America’s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.

Field of Dreams documentaries fascinate me. In theory, the documentary category is an investigation, explanation or essay on something, presumably something both real and true. Because there is the supposition that the thing is interesting of worth hearing about for some reason, one assumes that most...


Published November 28, 2022
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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1408 (2007)
The Dolphin Hotel invites you to stay in any of its stunning rooms. Except one.
Filmmaker(s): Mikael Håfström

A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.

Shined Up decided to watch this after Polanski’s “The Tenant” and that was probably a bad choice, because that film is precious. This one consists of three elements, typical of the King formula. The first is the expression of terror, shaped safely so that you can watch...


Published December 15, 2022
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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August Rush (2007)
An incredible journey moving at the speed of sound.
Filmmaker(s): Kirsten Sheridan

Lyla and Louis, a singer and a musician, fall in love, but are soon compelled to separate. Lyla is forced to give up her newborn but unknown to her, he grows up to become a musical genius.

Yellow Bricks Heard are three kinds of film that I value and treat differently: those who truly leverage dance, space or sound. I have not yet found one that exploits mathematical space, and would add that when it appears, probably from Ruiz and Greenaway who...


Published December 24, 2022
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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In The Night Garden (2007-2009)
Filmmaker(s): Martin Durkin

In the Night Garden is a magical place that exists between the waking and sleeping imagination of children close to the representation of a nursery rhyme.

Inception seems to be quite a consensus that this doesn't have any educational value. Such a stance presumes that kids need explicit teaching and preaching. Either you need to include an alphabet in your song like Sesame Street or have some obvious moral conclusion. How...


Published January 9, 2023
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Everyone wants the truth... until they find it.
Filmmaker(s): Ben Affleck

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

Baby Arrives love it when I am wrong, and someone that I think doesn’t matter surprises me. Ben Affleck put together some snappy lines in “Good Will,” but that project was so ordinary in form it self-destructed. His acting is generally silly. There isn’t a role...


Published February 7, 2023
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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