Battle for an Oscar: The Tree of Life
February 27, 2012 • Nick Mitchell ('13)/ Eastside Staff
The Tree of Life might not be the most popular of nominees, but that doesn’t make it any less great. It is a movie, made with a certain tenderness and attention. A movie that tries to wrestle with convoluted philosophical topics and succeeds, if viewed with an open mind. It’s not to say that I have... Read more »
Battle for an Oscar: Midnight in Paris
February 27, 2012 • Thomas Hudson (’14)/ Eastside Technology Director
Midnight in Paris is a romantic comedy and a fantasy directed by Woody Allen. The main character is Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), an accomplished screenwriter. Gil is visiting the beautiful city Paris with his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents. While Gil wants to move to the city, Inez insists... Read more »
The Battle for an Oscar: The Descendants
February 26, 2012 • Joe Incollingo ('13)/Eastside staff
Life is hard a lot of the time. Take Matt King as an example. The man juggles two troubled daughters and an emotionally-distant and recently comatose wife, while still making the life-changing decisions that his family depends on him to make. As Matt King is not as extraordinary as his name would imply,... Read more »
The Artist deserves an Oscar
February 26, 2012 • Danielle Fox ('13)/Eastside entertainment editor
After over an hour of an amalgamation of pure genius, spectacular imagery and histrionic, yet divine, performances, is it sad that what looms in my mind the most is George Valentin’s (Jean Dujardin) boyish smile? The Artist, a modern take on a 1920’s silent film, manages to capture the airy giddiness... Read more »
The Battle for an Oscar: The Artist
February 26, 2012 • Rachel Tinkleman ('13)/Eastside staff
The Artist is a film worth talking about for a number of reasons, the first of which is that it is not likely to be very popular with the average moviegoer. The Artist is a black and white silent film set in the 1920s, reminiscent of A Star is Born and Singing in the Rain. For those unfamiliar with... Read more »
The Battle for an Oscar: Moneyball
February 26, 2012 • Bryan Sheehan ('13)/Eastside humor editor
Baseball movies are always either extremely good or terribly awful. In a good movie, like Bull Durham, humor, drama and realism are all incorporated nicely, and an instant classic is formed. On the other hand, in a movie like Rookie of the Year, gaining super arm strength and getting pulled out of the... Read more »
The Battle for an Oscar: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
February 26, 2012 • Sarah Robbins ('13)/Eastside staff
By now you must have heard of the movie that treads the line between a sentimental portrayal of a grief-ridden family and a wrenching story of the horrors of 9/11. Set in a Manhattan flat, in 2002, 9-year-old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) lives alone with his mother (Sandra Bullock). They are both struggling... Read more »
The Battle for an Oscar: The Help
February 26, 2012 • Kobi Malamud ('12)/Eastside Radio Editor
In a year filled with countless sequels, book adaptations and 3-D remakes, Hollywood produced a record number of films completely devoid of any semblances of originality. Still, several such films did, in fact, prove different, managing to not only succeed in box office sales, but to also win over... Read more »
The Battle for an Oscar: Hugo
February 26, 2012 • Katie Rimdzius ('13)/Eastside Staff
Over the course of the past year, many great movies have been released. Hugo, released on November 23, 2011 was one of the most recognized films of the year. Both the skillful use of 3D effects and the development of the characters and plot won acclaimed director Martin Scorsese a golden globe... Read more »
We need to talk about kevin, and also how good the movie is
February 1, 2012 • Hannah Feinberg ('12)/Eastside Underground Editor
We need to talk about We Need to Talk about Kevin. Gripping, horrifying, nearly unwatchable, We Need to Talk about Kevin artfully dissects the complex relationship between mother and sadistic son. Adapted from the best-seller of the same name, We Need to Talk about Kevin muddles the line between... Read more »
Another Earth: out of this world
January 2, 2012 • Danielle Fox ('13)/Eastside entertainment editor
What if there was another Earth? Another you? What would you say? Perhaps, “Better luck next time.” Another Earth parallels the internal and external conflict of an identity crisis as an ex-convict (Brit Marling) begins anew, trying to string back together the disseminated pieces of her past, while... Read more »
Film “Beastly” lives up to its title
March 7, 2011 • Juliet Brooks ('13)/Eastside news/features editor
All said and done, Beastly’s redeeming quality, hands-down, was Alex Pettyfer. That’s not to say that Pettyfer’s acting (although he is very good at his job) saved the movie. Honestly, despite its “inner beauty conquers all” theme, the best parts of the movie were the seven minutes when Pettyfer’s... Read more »
The Fighter takes the ring (and the box office) by storm
March 7, 2011 • Kobi Malamud ('12), Eastside staff
Mark Whalberg and Christian Bale duke it out in the Fighter, courtesy of allnewmoviereviews.com Although popular boxing movies are generally a thing of the past with titles such as Rocky and Raging Bull, The Fighter successfully manages to resurrect the forgotten genre. Taking place in Lowell, Massachusetts... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: Black Swan
February 27, 2011 • Sherin Nassar ('13)/Eastside opinions editor Danielle Fox ('13)/Eastside entertainment editor
Magnificently re-creating a twisted version of the epic classic Swan Lake, Darren Aronofsky conglomerates the two sides of perfection and seduction into one mystified Swan heading down a path of destruction. Black Swan tells the tale of a cutting-edge ballet dancer, Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), hopelessly... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: Winter’s Bone
February 27, 2011 • Dillon Rosenblatt ('11)/Eastside sports editor
Based on a novel of the same name, Winter’s Bone tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl who is searching for her missing father. The main character, Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a homemaker for her younger brother and sister. Her mother sits useless all day, mentally absent. Her father, who was... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: Inception
February 27, 2011 • Dillon Rosenblatt ('11)/Eastside sports editor
Inception can be summed up in one word: confusing. The movie doesn’t explain most of what goes on, but it trusts the common man to understand how everything works in the world of dreaming. The summer blockbuster garnered in over 800 million dollars worldwide, along with eight Oscar nominations including... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: True Grit
February 27, 2011 • Jack Braunstein ('13)/Eastside underground editor
True Grit is the closest the Coen Brothers will ever get to directing a Disney movie. The film is an inspiring, heartwarming tale of justice and independence. There is a loveable heroine. She has oddball sidekicks. They go on a quest. They hit a few humorous speed bumps. But don’t forget, this is still... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: The Fighter
February 27, 2011 • Nick Mitchell ('13)/Eastside staff
Strained relationships factor greatly into “The fighter” and it adds a twist of drama into the plot that sets it apart from other sport movies. Mark Walberg plays a boxer by the name of “Mickey Ward” who has struggled throughout his boxing career and when he finally gets a chance at a comeback,... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: The King’s Speech
February 27, 2011 • Sherin Nassar ('13)/Eastside opinions editor
Think of an orchestra. Think of how every instrument plays a vital role in creating the bigger picture. The violinists may create the soft, slow roles in the song, while the rhythmus drumming may rev up the pivotal parts. If someone were to take away one of these parts, then the master piece just would... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: The Kids Are All Right
February 27, 2011 • Scott Nover ('13)/Eastside staff
In one’s efforts to watch a movie at a theatre, he or she is constantly plagued with a multitude of trailers for films that are supposed to appeal to him or her and the surrounding audience. Some trailers preview films that from first glance leave the viewer with a certainty that the movie will be... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: The Social Network
February 27, 2011 • Joe Incollingo ('13)/Eastside staff
It’s safe to say that there are few geniuses left in the world. As things generally turn out, these few geniuses do something genius; books are written about their genius, and then other geniuses adapt those books into genius movies. Enter The Social Network, a film so rife with genius that it’s... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: Toy Story 3
February 27, 2011 • Danielle Fox ('13)/Eastside entertainment editor
Beginning a film with an epic battle between a plastic piggy bank (John Ratzenberger), sporting the pseudonym “Evil Dr. Pork Chop,” and a cowboy-space- ranger-duo makes the summer’s top sensation seem rather conspicuous next to the nine other solemn tales nominated for the 2011 Best Picture Oscar.... Read more »
The Oscars “Best Picture” candidates: 127 Hours
February 27, 2011 • Hannah Feinberg ('12)/Eastside community editor
Talking about recent Danny Boyle films, the words “harrowing” and “life-affirming” often come up. And in many ways, these adjectives befit his tellings of a mountaineer’s sticky situation as much as his unrequited love epic, straight from the slums of Mumbai. Unlike last... Read more »
Just Go With It review
February 21, 2011 • Juliet Brooks ('13)/Eastside news/features editor
The movie poster for Just Go With It, courtesy of iwatchstuff.com *** As much as I love Adam Sandler, I was a bit dubious about his newest movie, Just Go With It. I could tell just from the movie poster(Sandler and Jennifer Aniston clinking glasses on a beach) that Just Go With It was a chick... Read more »
Return of the Plastics: Mean Girls 2 hits television
January 23, 2011 • Rebecca Schuck ('13)/Eastside staff
Seven years after the premier of the highly praised movie Mean Girls, the Plastics are back, and there is a new girl in town. Mean Girls 2, starring Meaghan Martin, Jennifer Stone, Maiara Walsh, and Nicole Gale Anderson, follows the new girl Jo (Meaghan Martin) who makes a splash in North Shore High... Read more »
