Mr. Brown Versus

The film that comes out the first Friday in May is, in my eyes, the kickoff to the summer movie season. The one movie that sets the tone for the rest of the season, in a sense. It's usually big, it's hyped to all hell, and it's meant to make a studio a ton of money. Oh, and it's usually a superhero movie: since Sam Rami's Spider-Man in 2002, just about every movie to open the season of popcorn entertainment has been a comic book movie. Last year, Marvel Studios started the season off with a solid bang with Iron Man 3 , and while there were some fun popcorn movies that added plenty of excitement and genuine fun ( Pacific Rim , The Wolverine, This Is the End , The World's End ) by the end, I was exhausted of seeing computer-generated destruction and studios showing off their budget at the expense of telling a story and developing their characters (I'm looking at you, Man of Steel ). This year, it's Marc Webb's reboot of our friendly neighbor Spi...

Now that I have that piece of crap out of the way, It's time to make good on my promise and play catch-up on all the movies I meant to review, but didn't because of culinary class and laziness. About Last Night  - Again, I love seeing a predominately black cast, and I wish there were a bit more of that in theaters. Last year's The Butler  (which I loved)   and The Best Man Holiday  (which I didn't like) proved a cast of African-Americans can be a draw, as both films made over $100 million and $70 million in the states respectively. Unfortunately, unlike Best Man Holiday , where its saving grace was Terrence Howard's excellent comedic performance, there isn't much I can say positively for this battle of the sexes comedy. Danny (Michael Early) and Bernie (Kevin Hart) are two bachelors in present-day Los Angles. Danny's looking to rebound from a relationship which ended in disaster, whereas Bernie is a party-hard guy looking to score on a nightly basis. ...

I know I said that I would get to reviews on Divergent (and an editorial on the YA boom); The Grand Budapest Hotel , The Lego Movie , the Robocop remake, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier , among other movies I've seen thusfar, and I shall in the coming month. Tonight, though? I'm angry. Really angry. And yes, it's over a movie I just saw. I should make this clear, though: I'm agnostic. I don't care much for organized religion because I believe that if you do have faith, there's no need for a middle man. One's relationship with God, or Jesus, or whatever deity you profess to should be between you and him. When I was younger, I mostly saw the negative of what organized religion can do (i.e. the support and defense of an illegal and immoral war in the Middle East; denying gays and lesbians their rights because their sexual orientation is considered an affront to morality and religious teaching; etc) and it painted a negative light on organized reli...

Three months. Three months without a single post on movies, reviews, trailers, or personal opinions that I promised last December. God, I hate procrastination and laziness. I've gotta make it up somehow, but how? Well, I've already missed out on the Oscars, and I haven't even posted (read: haven't even finished) my top 10 best list from last year... I've already seen a handful of movies - a reboot that wasn't as awful as I thought it would, a remake that totally sucked , and three excellent movies , all of them I consider to be some of the best of the year... And there's that new Young Adult film adaptation that's getting industry buzz...and I do have something to say about the hot new genre, it's origins and why we need more good movies with a strong female protagonist.... I got it! I'll do a big ol' mega review! Yeah - First part with the movies I've seen, then the other part will be my take on the YA-boom! Glad I go...

New Year's Eve is a time for looking back on the moments which made the previous year great or challenging, etc, and the promise of a new year being better and more fulfilling than the last. New Year's Eve will make you regret watching this dull and vapid piece of crap, no matter when you saw it during the year. So many subplots....so don't care. From Gary Marshall, the man behind Pretty Woman and A League of Their Own , this already forgotten star-studded turkey from 2011 follows the same formula from 2010's Valentine's Day: a series of vignettes which either serve as comedic set pieces, or dramatic ones, depending on the script. Some characters are looking for love. Some are looking for second chances. Some of these stories connect and collide with one another. Some are just purely stand alones. Here are just a few of the stories from this film: Hillary Swank plays the VP of the Times Square Alliance, a group dedicated to the planning of the big ball d...

A film about corruption and searing social commentary about what we'll do to chase the American dream? Made by the guy who made of the best anti-war pictures of the last several years ( Three Kings ) and one of the best sports dramas since Miracle  ( The Fighter )? And it combines Christian Bale & Amy Adams from The Fighter  and Bradley Cooper & Jennifer Lawrence from Silver Linings Playbook ? This has to be a sure-fire Oscar heavyweight! Man, director and co-writer David O'Russell is swinging for the fences here! He's going to make this next period piece his Goodfellas , and hell, if you're going to draw inspiration from any crime drama, that's the way to go! I'm going to see this tonight! 2+ hours later......... Well, two out of three ain't bad. American Hustle is a good movie. A damn good one. O'Russell nails the period of the 70's perfectly. The lavish clothes, the attitude that this gravy train of decadence will never...

In the beginning, I wanted Mr. Brown Verses to be a blog about movies, and that's it. Given how there's much more going on, like film analysis and how it relates to issues both here in America and beyond our borders; the annual predictions on the Academy Awards race; the state of the film industry; issues of ethnicity and gender roles in the business; the continued rise of fandom with both sexes; etc - it would be foolish to not  talk about it and just sticking with reviewing movies. Most of this has been hesitance on my end because I personally feel that I'm not as well-versed in the film medium to really speak on trends and whatnot. There are other, more eloquent critics and readers of the Award-season tea leaves that express these concepts so damn well, it's almost amazing they haven't been picked up by publishers like Entertainment Weekly or Rolling Stone or The New York Times, but I guess the idea that they stand apart makes their work more fearless, more rich...