Lincoln

“Lincoln” is mildly mistitled… It is not a Lincoln biopic.

Instead, the film specifically examines the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which permanently abolished slavery. Certainly Lincoln is the primary character, but the movie features an enormous cast and focuses not on the life of the man but on the action in Congress surrounding the passage of the surprisingly controversial amendment.

Regardless, Daniel Day-Lewis gives a biopic performance for the ages, completely bringing our common image of Lincoln to life. And for a movie revolving around legislative action, “Lincoln” manages to be intense, moving, spirited and surprisingly humorous.

The 2012 Holiday Movie Season Preview

Ok, folks, here we are! One of the major movie release seasons of the year is upon us, The Holiday Movie Season!

The Holidays started a little early this year, with “Skyfall” (undeniably a major release) opening in the first week of November. So we’re underway! Between now and the end of the year, we’ll see some of the biggest films on the 2012 docket get released, including the conclusion to the “Twilight” Saga, “The Hobbit”, and “Django Unchained”!

Click through to check out what the Holidays hold in store!

Looper

It’s a great feeling for a movie fan when a highly anticipated movie exceeds your expectations.

Rian Johnson’s “Looper” was one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2012. The combination of Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, and the high concept cross-stitching of hit men and time travel held a potential that people couldn’t help but build hope for.

I’m happy to report that “Looper” delivers on its promise in a big way. It’s a sci-fi thriller with a soul. Clever, intense and original, “Looper” is easily one of the best movies of 2012 so far.

New Episode of The (title pending) Movie Podcast with Tank and Fogs!!

Hello, hello, hello!

We’re back with another awesome edition of The (title pending) Movie Podcast for your listening pleasure!

This week, Tank and I play “Has Tank Seen Apocalypse Now?”, discuss a lackluster week at the box office, and then dig into to our reviews of “Hit and Run”, “The Apparition”, and “Premium Rush”!

For our featured discussion, we break down our favorite movie vehicles of all time. It turned out to be a really fun discussion that covered a lot of great movies, and of course, a lot of sweet rides!

We wrap it all up by checking out what’s “On the Radar”, and when all is said and done, you have another fantastic episode full of movie podcast goodness!

You can download it directly here, or as always, search for us on Stitcher Radio or iTunes by using the keywords (title pending) or Tank and Fogs! Please be sure to give us a rating or a review if you have the time, those REALLY help us out!!

Premium Rush

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon square off against each other impressively in this adrenaline charged bicycle thriller.

There are plenty of reasons to knock this movie down a few pegs, but as hoped, the two leads deliver, and the bicycle action is unique and engrossing, making it a very decent movie to check out.

The 2012 Fall Movie Preview – Part I

With this weekend’s release of “The Expendables 2” and “ParaNorman”, the summer movie season is pretty much over. One weekend remains in August, and those movies wont have much room to run before school is back in session.

Nope, the season of the big blockbuster is behind us. It’s time to look ahead to the fall.

Not to despair, though, the fall brings sharp movies for the thinking movie fan. Movies which may have more selective box office appeal, but which may be some of the best movies all year.

So click through to take a look at the first part of this year’s fall preview. Today we’ll look at the last week of August, plus September, and then we’ll come back tomorrow with October and the first week of November. Together they’ll take us right up to the start of the Holiday movie season, and the November 9th release of Skyfall!

The Dark Knight Rises

“The Dark Knight Rises” is the concluding chapter to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, the movie series that resurrected the moribund Batman franchise. Having given us the excellent “Batman Begins” and the legendary “The Dark Knight Rises”, the bar was set high for the grand finale, so one can hardly blame Nolan for wanting to give us something grandiose and epic for the final chapter.

And to a large extent, he succeeds. There’s plenty of Batman angst here, a sprawling cast of characters, a worthy adversary, and the city is certainly in peril. Yet the movie is so serious it’s smothering, there’s a dearth of action, and the “epicness” occasionally crosses the line into bloat.

There’s a very well made movie here, but I didn’t enjoy it half as much as I had hoped to.

The 2011 FMR MAJOR Award Winner for Best Actor

Here we go, here we go, here we go!

The 2011 FMR MAJOR Award for Best Actor!

These five actors all gave a great performance in 2011… just did a really great job in their roles. Of course, only one can be selected as the winner.

The Nominees are: George Clooney, “The Descendants”, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “50/50”, Ryan Gosling, “Drive”, Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”, and Andy Serkis, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”.

Click “Continue Reading” to see who took home the Leg Lamp!

50/50

I was SUPER skeptical of “50/50” going in. I figured the title was pretty apt –  that 50/50 was just about the chance I’d have of liking it.

I mean, a cancer comedy? To me, that just seemed like an insurmountable oxymoron. Those two things do NOT go together. Added to which my “Tearjerker Alert System” was going off like mad. DANGER! DANGER!

But, in light of my newfound responsibilities as a movie blogger, and in the wake of some extremely positive early reviews… I headed in to watch the story of a young man diagnosed with cancer, and his buddy who tries his best to help.

I’m glad I did.