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The 40 Year-Old-Critic: X-Men: First Class (2011)
Out of all the X-Men films, this was the first one that had been really, truly fun while also establishing amazing rivalries and human drama. It was the first great X-Men movie.
It was a delight to watch, and I was ecstatic while recording the Now Playing review when I discovered Jakob and Stuart had seen the same film I did. The only thing better than watching an amazing film is sharing that enthusiasm with other film-lovers.
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The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
I wasn’t sure what to make of the film by the trailers. The characters appeared to be living in a video-game world, collecting coins and getting 1-Up extra lives. It was quirky but what was it? I expected the movie to offer some explanation; perhaps, Tron-like, Scott had fallen into a video game world, or maybe he had an overactive imagination like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
The ghost of a child evangelist possesses the youth of Grand Island, Nebraska. Can medical student Grace stop this preaching poltergeist before he possesses the body of her daughter? More…
Arnie Carvalho
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Avatar (2009)
I had heard rumblings about Avatar for years. James Cameron’s last theatrical film had been Titanic in 1997 — then the top-grossing film of all time. After that massive success the director dropped out of the spotlight, focusing on a few IMAX documentaries. It seemed quite possible in my mind that Cameron might not ever make a film again, and with each passing year I paid less attention to the rumors that swirled about his next project.
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Iron Man (2008)
In 2008, Iron Man put the weight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on his shoulders and lifted comic book films to a new height. And to think, some critics shrugged off his arrival, suggesting he was just a “B-player.”
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Spider-Man 3 (2007)
In the years since I’ve come to focus on some of the better parts of the movie. The effects are mostly top notch, Topher Grace adds needed energy to the cast, and some of the jokes are winners. With the dour nature of The Amazing Spider-Man reboots, I even sometimes finding myself actually wishing for some of the spirit Raimi put in all of his films… even Spider-Man 3.
