Kiera Knightley Goes in a Different Direction For The Endearing Laggies

In the year 2014, you could see many unique sights on the big screen. A gun-toting raccoon with the voice of Bradley Cooper made his first foray onto the big screen. Rosamund Pike stabbed Neil Patrick Harris in the genitals. Tom Cruise got run over by a truck while trying to save the world. But perhaps the most unexpected and unusual sight of all came in the indie feature Laggies. Said sight was seeing Kiera Knightley not only in a movie set in the modern world but also playing a lady residing in Seattle, Washington! The queen of British period pieces traveling across the pond to play a struggling twenty-something, what a concept!

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Is In A Constant Battle Between Being Derivative And Being Weird

It is late in the evening. Rain comes down outside an office on the Disney lot as a group of Disney executives contemplate what their next big blockbuster should be. What public domain fantasy-IP can they turn into a motion picture next? They've already done so many, there can't possibly be any left....and then somebody remembers that The Nutcracker Suite exists, why not make a movie based on that famous piece of ballet music? Disney's adapted that material before with a Mickey Mouse short and kind of sort of in a Fantasia 2000 segment, surely a live-action adaptation is only the next logical step for the studio! Those Disney executives likely thought they had a surefire family movie hit on their hands, but what they got is The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, a movie that excels most when it's just being as odd and campy as possible.

Colette Is A Real Page-Turner (Because It's About An Author, Don't You See)

My favorite approach with historical dramas is ones that work around the clock to emphasize the relatable humanity of its lead characters. They may exist in a wholly different time period, but people are still people no matter whether it's 1718 or 2018 so it's nice when these kinds of period piece dramas make an effort to depict their characters as not sacrosanct caricatures of the past but rather flesh and blood people like you and me. Colette takes this approach to tell the true story of Gabrielle Colette (Kiera Knightley), a woman who broke all kinds of boundaries in European society as well as late 19th-century society in general without many even noticing.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End Review (Classic Write-Up)

And so, we come to the end of the original Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy, with At World's End closing out the four year long tale of Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan....at least until Disney decided to go back this world for the dire fourth movie. By contrast to the second movie being far worse than I remembered it being, this third entry in the saga is surprisingly much better than I remember it being, even if it still suffers from an overly convoluted structure that the second film similarly struggled with.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl Review (Classic Write-Up)

They said it couldn't be done. A live-action pirate movie in this day and age, and based on a theme park ride to boot?? Disney might as well be burning all the cash they were tossing into the production! It didn't help that the year prior to the release Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2002 to be precise), Disney released two box office bombs that seemed to be precursors to Pirates walking the plank at the box office. The Country Bears was based on a Disney theme park attraction as well as a box office bomb, while the underrated gem Treasure Planet seemed to reinforce the notion that pirates were box office poison, pure and simple.

The Imitation Game Review

So I Wanna Know....What's The Name Of The (Imitation) Game?

Depicting people with Asperger's Syndrome in media has always been a bit of a difficult challenge, which is a disappointing to me as a person with Asperger's. Most shows fail to even pinpoint characters who display tendencies of Asperger's as actually having that symptom, rather nothing them as "special" or "funny" in order to avoid offending any specific groups if the portrayal comes off as a subpar. That tactic, which is utilized for the main character, Alan Turing, in The Imitation Game, can be put to good use, as this feature demonstrates.

Benedict Cumberbatch Is World War II Genius Alan Turing In The Imitation Game Trailer

Benedict Cumberbatch has got quite a productive Holiday Season ahead of him. If he's not playing the villainous dragon Smaug in the final Hobbit adventure, you can also catch him playing a wolf companion to The Penguins of Madagascar. Or, you might just see him in The Weinstein Company's Fall drama The Imitation Game, where he plays Alan Turing, a real life figure who had was a pivotal part of World War II. The first trailer for the film was released today and you can watch it below.

Begin Again Review

First you get the music, then you get the sugar, then you get the women.

Considering all the changes the music industry has undergone in the past decade and a half, a film focusing on a music executive and his attempt to bring a new singer into the spotlight might be an excellent way to look at those changes. And if you wanna ignore that, cool. I'm sure this is a fantastic opportunity to utilize the talents of folks like Mark Ruffalo, Kiera Knightly and Hallie Steinfeld in a film that's exceptionally well written. That's that? The movie is a disappointing mixture of cliches and tediousness? Well now, ain't that a kick in the head.