Movie Review: Ted 2

It was just about three years ago that Family Guy/American Dad mastermind Seth MacFarlane made the jump from the animates small screen to the live action big screen with the first Ted film. Now, these are not to be confused with Ted Talks, those are quite a different thing. Ted seems to be much more like the grown up adventures of Stewie and his teddy bear, Rupert. Of course, the names were changed to protect the innocent, but the thought process seems pretty on point. Anyway, the sequel picks up some years later with Ted marrying his girlfriend from the first film, Tami-Lynn, and then the couple deciding to have a baby. Comedy ensues.

Movie Review: The Gambler (2014)

Let's get one thing out of the way right up front, if nothing else The Gambler gave me one thing I can go the rest of my life without seeing again, and that is John Goodman without a shirt on. I love the guy, but please, shirts on from now on. OK? Thank you. As for the movie itself? Meh. I kind of liked some of the speech making and the way things were worded, but it was not always a good flow and often seemed to be rather self aware of what it was trying to do rather then letting it be. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some stylized speeches and dialogue, but it needs to be off the movie rather than the movie itself. Not sure I made sense there, but I think you understand.

Movie Review: Transformers - Age of Extinction

Transformers: Age of Extinction has arrived. It has taken me a little while to catch up with it, but I have finally seen it. As I sit here pondering the experience, I wonder if there is really anything else I can really add to the discourse that has already been had about its merits, or lack thereof. There probably isn't, still I cannot help myself but offer up a little bit about it. The funny thing is that I find it relatively easy to defend it and attack it. It is one of those movies that does some things right and a lot of things wrong. Pretty much the same as the rest of the Transformers franchise, or Michael Bay's entire career.

Movie Review: Lone Survivor

So, I went and saw Lone Survivor. That happened. It certainly was a finely crafted movie, filled with solid performances, some nice cinematography, a surprisingly well balanced treatment of characters, some thrilling shootouts, and to top it off It has a reality to back up its tale. Granted, it is twisted a little for cinematic purposes, but that's all right, it is expected when anything true is adapted to the big screen. It is also a movie that has not exactly inspired me to write some big review about it. Still, I felt a little desire to go over a couple of reactions to it, so this is likely going to be even more random and stream of consciousness than I usually am.

Reviews in Retrograde: The Big Hit

Critical Outcast isn't my first attempt at a website, I had a few stutter steps in the late 1990's and early 2000's. These attempts generated a whole bunch of poorly written, often very short and spoilerific reviews. I recently stumbled upon them in my archives and thought you may be interested in seeing some of these early attempts at writing. They are as they were then, I make no apologies for how bad or how short they are. Feel free to have at them with reckless abandon! I present to you: Reviews in Retrograde.