Signal Bleed

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince review
Ghost Month DVD review
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with Las Vegas Weekly Managing Editor Ken Miller
Video segment on new DVD releases (mostly TV shows, actually)

Labor Pains review
Michael and Michael Have Issues review

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Link round-up 7/11

Movies

Blood: The Last Vampire review
Every Little Step review
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with Roger Erik Tinch of CineVegas
Video segment on DVD releases
Video segment on Brüno and Moon

Drop Dead Diva review

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Link round-up 7/5

Unfortunately, technical difficulties scrapped the video segment on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that I was promising last week.

Movies

Public Enemies review
Food, Inc. review
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with Brian Black
Video segment on new DVD releases (this looks to be the beginning of a weekly thing)

Warehouse 13 review
10 Things I Hate About You review

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Link round-up 6/28

There should be a video segment on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen posted soon, but it's not up yet.

Movies

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen review
Away We Go review
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with Jeffrey K. Howard of Vegas Film Critic

Hung review
List of five current summer shows to watch
List of the best TV comedies of 2009 so far

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Yeah, I haven't even kept up on these brief posts as I said I would, but in fairness, I was very busy with CineVegas this last week (as you can see). Here's what I've been up to for the last two weeks.

Movies

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 review
The Proposal review

The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien review

CineVegas

Profile of local filmmakers Jerry and Mike Thompson
Interview with Vegas: Based on a True Story director Amir Naderi
Story on The Revenant director Kerry Prior
Saint John of Las Vegas review
The Square review
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo review
(500) Days of Summer review
Daylight review
Thor at the Bus Stop review
The Revenant review
Humpday review
Godspeed review
World's Greatest Dad review
Shorts programs wrap-up
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast, CineVegas edition, with Las Vegas Weekly contributor Julie Seabaugh

Friday, June 05, 2009

Link round-up 6/4

Movies

The Hangover review
Land of the Lost review
Interview with Hue Rhodes, director of CineVegas opening film Saint John of Las Vegas
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with Las Vegas Weekly Managing Editor Ken Miller
Video segment on The Hangover

Royal Pains review
Nurse Jackie review

Friday, May 29, 2009

Link round-up 5/29

Movies

Up review
The Girlfriend Experience review
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with filmmaker and comedian Jason Harris

Friday, May 22, 2009

Link round-up 5/22

Movies

Terminator Salvation review
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian review
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with Jeffrey K. Howard of Vegas Film Critic

The Goode Family review

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Hiatus

As I once again missed the window to post about this week's movies, it's become clear to me that I no longer have the time to keep up with this blog in any useful fashion. Even the (mostly) weekly posts I've been managing have been sort of hurried and less informative than they should be. And I'd rather take a break than try to throw up some half-hearted content just to maintain a presence. I hope at some point to have the time to devote to writing some substantive posts here, since there are certainly things I'd like to comment on outside of the scope of my work for Las Vegas Weekly and About.com. But for now I'll just be posting weekly link round-ups to notable reviews and other pieces, so you can see what I've been up to. Check back for those, and then maybe in a few months for some sort of manageable restructuring.

Here's some stuff to check out this week:

Movies

Tyson review
Interview with Tyson director James Toback
Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast with Tony Macklin
Tyson video segment

Glee review

Friday, May 08, 2009

Movies opening this week

Hear me chat about these movies (well, mostly just about Star Trek) with Las Vegas Weekly Associate Editor T.R. Witcher in this week's Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast, and watch another wacky video segment, also about Star Trek.

Next Day Air (Wood Harris, Mike Epps, Donald Faison, dir. Benny Boom)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
As if this weren't sufficiently doomed to obscurity, it's going up against Star Trek, sure to obliterate it at the box office and in most people's minds. And for good reason, too: This is an entirely forgettable, pointless film, putting an "urban" twist on the self-consciously cool gangster template of old Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie movies (from which Tarantino has moved on, and Ritchie has not). It's also been mismarketed as a sort of stoner comedy, which it isn't; that's a very small part of the story, which at first seems like it could be sort of amusing, but quickly devolves into the lame crime plot, and the humor pretty much dries up. Totally the sort of thing that would go straight to video if not for a studio seeing an opportunity to siphon off a little money from people who are desperate for an alternative to Star Trek. Wide release

Paris 36 (Gerard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, Nora Arnezeder, dir. Christophe Barratier)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
This is another of those bland, well-intentioned foreign films that I just can't get excited about. It's sweetly nostalgic (probably overly so) and has one really entertaining musical number, but overall it's just dull and so devoid of any tension that it ends up arguing for its own lack of consequence. Opened limited April 3; in Las Vegas this week

Star Trek (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Eric Bana, dir. J.J. Abrams)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
I would classify my level of Star Trek fandom as moderate; I started watching Next Generation when I was in middle school, and was a fairly avid fan of it from around the third or fourth season. I loved Deep Space Nine, but I was never such a die-hard that I wasn't willing to give up on Voyager and Enterprise when they ceased to interest me (I watched about one season of each). I've only seen maybe a dozen original-series episodes, and about half the movies with the original cast, but I have a pretty good familiarity with the tone of the series, and the major continuity touchpoints. So I think I have a good perspective on this movie, as someone poised between ultra-geekdom and unfamiliarity. Really, though, I think it's largely pleasing both camps, although of course certain reactionary geeks won't accept any sort of alteration in their beloved franchise, and some non-fans will never go for Star Trek no matter how action-movie-ish it is. For everyone else, though, this is about as good as we could possibly hope for.

As I detailed in this post when Enterprise ended, I would have preferred a different take to bring the franchise into a new era; I still think that going back to retell the early days of the original crew was not the ideal approach. This is certainly a stellar execution, though, and if this is the concept Paramount is pushing, then they've done it justice. But I do hope that the inevitable massive success of this movie will lead to a bit of diversity in official Star Trek product; I still have a fondness for the original continuity, and as I say in this week's podcast, one of things I've always liked about Star Trek is its constant forward momentum. New Trek usually means new characters, new races, new worlds, a new piece of a constantly growing future history, and that's something we don't really get here. I can't imagine that Paramount isn't considering a new Trek TV series right now, and I'd love to see that follow up on the old continuity while striking out in a new direction, and still allowing the movie series to rewrite the tales of Kirk & Co. I do think they can have their cake (make money) and eat it too (appeal to fans), and I'm optimistic that something like that will happen. In the meantime, this movie is more than enough. Wide release

Friday, May 01, 2009

Movies opening this week

Hear me chat about these movies with Roger Erik Tinch of CineVegas on this week's Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast, and check out a very wacky video segment this week on X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Sugar (Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, dir. Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck)
By the time I saw Boden and Fleck's narrative debut, Half Nelson, the hype had gotten so intense that I was a little underwhelmed. This one has flown much more under the radar, so I came in with fewer expectations, and I was really impressed. It's a quiet character study with a new take on both the sports movie and the immigrant narrative, and manages to subvert cliches almost the entire way. The supporting characters are a little underdeveloped, and the pacing in the final segment is a little off, but overall this is a lovely, affecting film that explores a completely under-represented aspect of sports in America, and does so in a respectful, honest and hopeful manner. Opened limited April 3; in Las Vegas this week

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, dir. Gavin Hood)
I had a bad feeling on this one from the announcement of Hood, a total hack, as director, through the trailer, the bad buzz from the online leak and the early reviews. And going in expecting such a train wreck, I suppose I was relieved that it wasn't the worst cynical cash-in blockbuster ever, but it certainly was one of the most pointless. Any comics reader knows that there is a mountain of awesome Wolverine material to draw from, but here we get the most pedestrian, connect-the-dots account of his early days that adds nothing to the flashbacks already seen in X2. The new characters are either unrecognizable from their comics incarnations, or severely underused, and the connections to already established back story are often tenuous. Even the action, which could excuse the bad writing and uninspired direction, is dull. There's so much more potential in the X-Men franchise and Wolverine in particular that I hope this movie doesn't kill it off; they just need to find a clear vision for one of these movies other than the chance to make more money. Wide release

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Status updates

Alas, this isn't a post to announce more frequent entries, as I still have far too many things taking up my time to give this blog the attention it deserves. But I will be doing my best to post more here; as the TV season winds down, I hope to have a little more time.

In the meantime, if you just can't get enough of my smiling (or scowling, more likely) face or lovely voice, two important notes: My weekly appearances on Vegas' Xtreme Radio (107.5 FM) have been moved from afternoons to mornings; you can now catch me Fridays at 9:15 a.m. Pacific time on the station's new DAM morning show, featuring former Xtreme Disorder co-host Dave Farra. It's a touching reunion for Dave and me.

Also, the Jamie Kennedy documentary Heckler, for which I filmed an appearance a few years ago, is apparently airing quite frequently on Showtime these days. I haven't seen it, but others assure me that I only appear for about a minute, and come off fairly well. Thank goodness.

Movies opening this week

Hear me chat about these movies with Michael T. Toole, contributing writer for Turner Classic Movies, on this week's Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast. And check out this week's video segment, on The Soloist.

Earth (documentary, dir. Alastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
I know it's probably mean-spirited to cut down this well-meaning educational film, but I did find it extraordinarily dull, and mostly devoid of anything useful or new. For kids who've never seen anything like this, I suppose it's not bad, and it's more impressive to see these images on a big screen than on a TV (where you can catch similar stuff regularly on Discovery and Animal Planet). But this is still a cursory introduction and a scattershot portrayal of the animal kingdom. Disney seems set on pushing this nature-film brand, so I hope that the teased next outing, Oceans, to be released next year, will have better focus and more in-depth insights. Wide release

Fighting (Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Zulay Henao, dir. Dito Montiel)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
I still expect good things from Montiel, whose debut feature, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, I liked quite a bit. Despite intermittent efforts to do something artistic here, though, this movie certainly doesn't qualify. Howard is apparently angling to be the new Nicolas Cage with his oddball line deliveries, and Tatum gives Paul Walker a run for his money as the least charismatic actor working today. Definitely a waste of somebody's talent. Wide release

Sin Nombre (Paulina Gaitan, Edgar Flores, Kristian Ferrer, dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
So much well-meaning mediocrity this week. This was a big hit at Sundance, and it's not hard to see why: It serious-minded and socially conscious, and sympathetic to poor immigrants. It's also fairly flat and predictable, with a silly melodramatic climax. Not as irritating as a bullshit indie-formula movie like Sunshine Cleaning, but also not worthy of the mountain of praise it's gotten. Opened limited March 20; in Las Vegas this week

The Soloist (Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener, dir. Joe Wright)
I keep waiting for Joe Wright to make a transcendentally brilliant movie, because it's clear from his past work that he's a striking visual stylist. The first hour or so of Atonement was a stellar fusion of form and content, even if the movie lost its way in the second half. This movie is just all wrong for Wright, though; it's an inherently small, internal story about the friendship between two very different men, and a writer's frustration at being unable to magically cure the schizophrenic street musician he discovers and befriends. Wright jazzes things up excessively, Foxx gives a mannered, nearly "full retard" performance, and only Downey holds things together with his typical jaded awesomeness. Someone give Wright another period epic or a dense sci-fi thriller or something where his grandiose visions will serve the story. Wide release

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Movies opening this week

(Apologies again for lateness. My hope for more free time in the last few weeks has obviously not come to fruition.) Hear me chat with Angela Abshier of the Las Vegas 48 Hour Film Project about these movies, as well as the Project itself, on this week's Josh Bell Hates Everything podcast. And this week's video, about State of Play, is much more straightforward than the last one. We're still working on that balance between informative and wacky.

Crank: High Voltage (Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Dwight Yoakam, dir. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor)
I have mixed feelings about the Crank franchise. On one hand, it's definitely fun and visually inventive and unlike pretty much any other action movies out there. On the other hand, it's so misogynistic and crass that it's sometimes uncomfortable, and the relentless efforts to go over the top get pretty tiresome here. Like the first one, this is fun and exciting for 45 minutes or so, and then it's just exhausting. But rabid fans of the series will surely enjoy themselves, and I do understand why. Wide release

Gomorrah (Salvatore Cantalupo, Salvatore Abruzzese, Gianfelice Imparato, dir. Matteo Garrone)
I spent probably the first hour of this movie just trying to figure out who the characters were and how they related to each other, and even at the end I wasn't quite sure how the various organizations worked, or what was behind the main turf rivalry. Eventually, though, enough connections become clear that you can follow the action, and the second half is much more exciting and interesting. A lot of comparisons have been made to The Wire, but this movie reminded me more of something like City of God, with its focus on poor urban residents for whom crime is the only possible way of life. The police are little more than a spectral presence here, and there rarely seems to be a life beyond the confines of the neighborhood. This movie requires a little too much work to get into, and its characters sometimes seem a little like archetypes rather than people, but for the most part it's worth the effort. Opened limited Feb. 13; in Las Vegas this week

State of Play (Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, dir. Kevin Macdonald)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
I really do appreciate this movie's earnest efforts to bolster old-fashioned journalism, but unfortunately it's not actually nearly as exciting as what Russell Crowe practices here. Although they did effectively capture the questionable fashion sense of newspaper writers; I totally own the same calculator watch that Crowe's rotund colleague wears throughout the movie. Wide release