June 1, 2013 Director Louis Leterrier (French director of The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans and The Transporter) brings his unique flashy, big budget, art-house sensibility to this new release about a supergroup of illusionists called “The Four Horsemen” pulling off multiple heists as they get tracked by the FBI. While his hyper-colorized frenetic …
Review
Animated Film “Epic”: Epic Fail
May 25, 2013 To be fair, director Chris Wedge (of Ice Age and Rio) has created a nature-based fantasy engaging enough that it will find an audience, but when one changes the name of a movie from Leaf Men to Epic, one better come with one’s A+ game, no? Epic qualifies for a solid C, …
“Star Trek: Into Darkness” ~ Excitement at Warp Factor 10
May 17, 2013 Boy, this is going to be one short review. This movie has more spoilers than the 1967 Enterprise had Tribbles…and in the interest of full disclosure, this is written by the Cinema Siren who owns chairs from the Voyager show, can list the original episodes in order of appearance, has a T-shirt …
The Great Gatsby: Gutsy, fearless and worth seeing
May 11, 2013 No question whatsoever, director Baz Luhrmann is someone who elicits strong opinions with his every movie. Moulin Rouge draws forth a swoony sigh from its biggest fans and an eye roll from its detractors. In an industry that often plays it safe, creating movies like Fast and Furious 6 to keep the …
‘Oblivion’: A Stunning Yet Flawed Sci-Fi
April 20, 2013 In director Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion, you can see a love for and desire to expand on the great classics of science fiction on film. With the most impressive use of IMAX for a feature film to date, in that respect he has created something new and exciting, with what is essentially a …
Indie Spotlight: Trance- A Hypnotic Headtrip Worth Taking
April 12, 2013 Director Danny Boyle, fresh off being dubbed a national hero for his triumph directing the Olympic ceremonies in London, took another big directorial risk with his new release Trance. It is a frenetic, haunting genre-bender that grabs hold of and keeps your attention from its first moments to its last with such …
Movie Review: Spielberg’s Dinosaurs Born Again in 3D
April 6, 2013 Once again we are at an old vs. new and purist vs. innovator crossroads. Why in the world would anyone go out to see Jurassic Park in the theatre for $12+ when they can snuggle at home and watch it on their own 40-inch HDTV? What could make this release worth the time of …
March Movie Madness: The Call, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Stoker, Upside Down
March 15, 2013 I’m sitting outside the Verizon Center, once again fighting for parking this week with the sports fans next door to my screening movie theatre. It reminds me, even when it matters, sometimes the winning team is a fluke, sometimes it’s well deserved… As Cinema Siren is meant to “guide you through a …
Oz the Great and Powerful: The Mild and Functional
March 8. 2013 “I don’t want to be a good man, I want to be a great one!” This declaration by James Franco as the title character of Sam Raimi’s new Disney prequel could just as easily be a hope of the director’s as well. Is the movie great? Is it even good? Oz the Great …
‘Zero Dark Thirty:’ Bigelow’s Controversial Triumph Worth Seeing
January 14, 2013 Zero Dark Thirty, which brought in $24 million in its first two days of wide release, has been lauded worldwide and almost universally as an impressive piece of filmmaking, a movie that is anything but formulaic. It is always very different for those of us who live within the Washington area. Our …