Tag Archives: Jessica Lamarre
The Great Gatsby (And How it Broke my Heart)
2013. 132 minutes. Rated PG 13.
“I was within and without.”
Never like a movie where important quotes fly at you on screen. It’s my new rule. This movie was the Cliff Notes I wish I could have had in high school when I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and wasn’t quite sure what important things to write about in my essay. I really wanted so much to like this movie, especially after how many times I watched Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet remake from 1996 (I even owned the soundtrack) but I just came out of it wanting to re-watch R + J and wanting to tattoo a few emo quotes from the book onto my arm.
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Baz Luhrmann, Carey Mulligan, drama, Jessica Lamarre, Joel Edgerton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Review, THE GREAT GATSBY, Tobey Maguire
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Killing Them Softly
2012. 97 Minutes. Rated R.
Quote: America is not a country. It’s a business.
Killing Them Softly is another notch on Brad’s belt. Wanna know a guy with some range? Brad Pitt, that’s the guy. What can’t he do? He made me care about BASEBALL while watching Money Ball. That’s talent.
This movie cuts right to the chase. It tells a good story without wasting our time. It doesn’t invent a bunch of extra junk and drag us through boring plot devices. It’s got simple goals, and for that reason, it succeeds.
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Jessica Lamarre, Mob, Peter Struzziero, Ray Liotta, RIchard Jenkins
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The Spotlight: Movies to Watch After Oldboy
The Korean revenge masterpiece, Oldboy (2003) directed by Chan-Wook Park, is by far, in my top ten movies OF ALL TIME and I talk about it in many of my reviews. It’s a dark action movie about revenge with fairy tale qualities. A man wakes up in a room where he is held captive for years with TV and take out dumplings as his only companions (my own personal hell). Once he is released, he becomes obsessed with finding his captor for answers. Once I picked up my jaw from the floor, I’m left with this empty feeling after watching it. What’s next? I’m not looking forward to Spike Lee Americanizing it with Will Smith. Will there ever be a movie like it? It’s also hard to recommend movies based on other movies (much like books) because people like them for different reasons so I broke them down into two “Netflix-like” categories. First, I suggest trying the rest of the Park’s Revenge Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance. Only thematically connected, they are two separate stories about revenge with dire consequences. Then, here are some worthwhile close seconds:
Cloud Atlas
2012. 172 min. Rated R.
“I believe there is a another world waiting for us, Sixsmith. A better world. And I’ll be waiting for you there.”
Posted in Reviews
Tagged CLOUD ATLAS, Doona Bae, Fantasy, Halle Bery, Hugo Weaving, Jessica Lamarre, Tom Hanks, Tom Tykwer, Wachowski's
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Brazil
1985. 132 Min. Rated R. “Mistakes? We don’t make mistakes.” 
In my search for non-traditional Christmas movies, I came across the satirical cult classic, Brazil, written and directed by Terry Gilliam. Gilliam is more well known for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Twelve Monkeys, and Monty Python projects. There is, no doubt, a darkness in his heart, which is conveyed beautifully in this story, one of three imaginative stories beginning with Time Bandits. You have to hand it to a guy who named his company PooPooPictures, just to imagine board execs sitting in a room and having to discuss it.
Posted in Reviews
Tagged BRAZIL, Jessica Lamarre, Johnathan Price, Kim Greist, Reviews, Robert De Niro, science fiction, Sid Sheinberg, Terry Gilliam
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Shut Up Little Man: An Audio Misadventure
2011. 90 minutes. NR.
“Stop stealing my vodka!”
I hate my ex- neighbors. I think everyone has at some point. You live in a place with paper-thin walls and the volume of the TV can only turn up so loud before they’re complaining about you. There were times when I thought my neighbors were going to kill each other. They threw things, tussled, locked themselves in the bathroom, and swore over who would make the cheese fries. This documentary caught my eye because it followed two roommates who taped their horrendous neighbor disputes as a form of therapy, and the tapes became cultural icons in a time before YouTube made everyone an instant celebrity.
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Tagged documentary, Eddie Lee Sausage, Jessica Lamarre, Mitch Deprey, SHUT UP LITTLE MAN
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The Spotlight: Put Some Eyeballs On It: A Tribute to Old Horror Movie Effects
Recently after watching John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) and then its prequel, The Thing (2011), I realized how much I miss old horror movie special effects. Rob Bottin, special effects creator and designer of the original 1982 monsters (with the exception of the kennel monster by the talented Stan Winston), is my new hero. I feel old when I say this, but there’s something too clean about CGI (computer-generated imagery) that loses the slimy, disturbing gross-out factor of old. A computer and a program cannot live up to the ingenuity of 300lbs of foam, creamed corn, KY Jelly, and heated bubble gum.
Posted in Reviews, The Spotlight
Tagged AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, Chris Walas, David Cronenberg, David Naughton, Geena Davis, Griffin Dunne, Jeff Goldblum, Jessica Lamarre, John Carpenter, John Getz, Kurt Russell, Peter Jackson, Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Stan Winston, THE FLY, The Spotlight, THE THING, Wilfred Brimley
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
2012. 103 min. Rated PG 13.
“Dear Friend, I’m sorry I haven’t written in awhile, but I’ve been trying hard to not be a loser.”
The FP
2011. 82 Minutes. Rated R.
“What’s a town with no ducks?”
Not many people know this but there was a time I was called DDR Lamarre, and for good reason. My little brother and I would spend hours playing Dance Dance Revolution at our local arcade, patiently putting our quarter in line on top of the screen for a chance to show our moves. Dance Dance Revolution is a Japanese game where the arrows on screen direct the movement of your feet on a floor keypad (it looks much more like a Mexican Hat dance than anything you will see at a club). Even though we were in Fall River, we never saw any gang wars being won by DDR, but then, they never saw The FP.
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Tagged Art Hsu, Brandon Barrera, Caitlyn Folley, Comedy, Jason Trost, Jessica Lamarre, Lee Valmassy, Reviews, THE FP
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Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
1991. 93 Minutes. Rated PG.
“You totally killed us, you evil metal dickweeds!”
My mother to this day still has not finished this movie. Much to the dismay of the theater usher in the Fall River Harbor Mall, my mother’s water broke mid-movie (let’s hope that once in a while they really clean those theater seats). Apparently, my younger brother was as excited to see this movie as I was. The sequel to the already reviewed Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure finds best friends, Bill S. Preston Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) broke but happy. They’ve moved from their parents’ house to a small apartment and continue working with the English babes, Elizabeth (Annette Azcuy) and Joanna (Sarah Trigger) towards making the band Wyld Stallyns something that doesn’t sound like a car crash. They have been given the opportunity to play during the local Battle of the Bands, which will award the winner thousands of dollars in cash and a record deal. This could be the big break they have been waiting for.