Meet the Author - Rory Dean
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Blog Catalog Sites
Above the Line: Practical Movie Reviews- Some Safety Glass Distance (2013) May 11, 2013Writing is in my blood, it makes me feel connected to an often overwhelming sense of disconnectedness. Continue reading →rorydean
- Argo (2012) April 6, 2013So "Argo" should be on your list of movies to watch if you've missed it up to now. Be advised that the thrills come in bite-fulls and the story is much more about an ensemble cast than any one particular player. This has double feature written all over it. Pick up a couple of other movies while you're at it and if all goes South in a hurr […]rorydean
- 629 March 30, 2013This filmic is a multi-layered visual experience that takes place not in the dream-world but along the road that surrounds it. Continue reading →bleuravyn
- I Melt With You (2011) March 1, 2013“I Melt With You” feels like the mid-life rights of passage you've heard about or are living, the runway that many men land and take off from. Gathered for many drinks with the best friends of their lives quickly becomes a dangerous Bacchanalia of doomed ritualizing, darkly lit and disturbing yet familiar to anyone who has ever fallen off the beaten pat […]rorydean
- Female Directors Redux February 27, 2013Reblogged from Above the Line: Female Directors Redux - Women in Film in Hollywood and beyond After reviewing my original list "Female Directors - Above and Beyond a Call to Duty" and discussing female filmmakers with a variety of film aficionados, … Continue reading →rorydean
- Some Safety Glass Distance (2013) May 11, 2013
Monthly Archives: July 2012
Batman Begins (2005)
For all the facts and figures, agreements and dastardly deeds, for the accomplishments and tragedies forever linked with these films, Nolan’s revisionist dream for the universe of Batman is an impressive film all by itself, a solid beginning for the franchise that follows and like all blockbusters it has earned as much praise in the aggregators as notable criticism. If Nolan is anything he is Master and Commander of the Cinema of now, a modern movie maker building on a rich history of motion pictures and escapism with bigger films at every turn that thrill and disappoint, that enliven imaginations and simple pleasures, that are grand explorations but above all he entertains. Continue reading
Posted in Essays on Film, In Theaters Now!, Movie I've Seen, Movie Makers & Shakers, Movies You Should or Should Not See, On DVD
Tagged above the line, batman & Robin, batman begins, batman trilogy, blockbusters, bruce wayne, capped crusader, christian bale, christopher nolan, dark knight, dc comics, gotham city, joel schulmaker, liam neeson, master and commander of cinema, morgan freeman, origin films, practical movie reviews, reboost movies, rory dean, Warner Bros. Entertainment
2 Comments
J. Edgar (2011) – Blu-ray
J. Edgar the film seems most at odds with J. Edgar the man, Eastwood’s investment in character missing important revelations, turning to history for answers to a life we never fully get to know over the course of the film. If J. Edgar succeeds at all in proves Eastwood’s ability to survive even if the memory of this movie does not. Continue reading
Posted in On DVD, Movie I've Seen, Movies You Should or Should Not See, Blu-ray, Blu-ray Elite for Warner Home Video
Tagged rory dean, Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, above the line, practical movie reviews, armie hammer, clint eastwood, j.edgar, fbi, federal bureau of investigation, tom stern, biopic, king of secrets, secrets keeper, mr.practicalreviews
6 Comments
Christopher Nolan Master and Commander
In the darkness of Christopher Nolan lives a part of us struggling against insurmountable odds and dreams that don’t come true. In the person is a place we strive to find in ourselves so when Batman falls we all fall. It is there in that rise from utter ruin that we see him rise again like the title of the movie, to transform from individual Bat-“man” to Dark Knight of the many and he brings us along. He chooses grand over nuance, drives his points forward with all the subtlety of a bull in a china cabinet but somehow it always pays off. He’s larger than life and flesh and blood, magnificent and flawed and fans, followers, critics and everyday moviegoers seem set on loving him and fighting for him no matter what. Continue reading
Posted in Essays on Film, Movie Makers & Shakers, On DVD, Online, philosophy and film
Tagged aurora tragedy, auteur theory, batman begins, blockbusters, christian bale, christopher nolan, Colorado shootings, dark knight, escapist, fantasy, franchise films, practical movie reviews, rory dean, the joker
3 Comments
Blu-ray: Not just a name but a beautiful future
he real value in Blu-ray media is not so much the physical disc itself but the gateway afforded by the whole system, including the player and the interoperability that connects your home system with the Internet. Continue reading
The Dark Knight (2008) Blu-ray
The Dark Knight lives and breathes on violence and dismay, on the potential for justice and the inevitable collateral damage of life, death and consequences. Christopher Nolan’s films are at odds with what they are and what he wants them to be, second only to our reactions, our willingness to embrace them for all the reasons to let go, turn away, or hold on forever. Continue reading
Posted in On DVD, Movie I've Seen, Movies You Should or Should Not See, Blu-ray, Blu-ray Elite for Warner Home Video
Tagged rory dean, Maggie Gyllenhaal, above the line, heath ledger, gary oldman, practical movie reviews, christopher nolan, christian bale, Warner Bros. Entertainment, blu-ray elite, the dark knight, batman, joker, aaron eckhardt
5 Comments
