Movie Reviews, Digital HD Reviews, and Television Reviews

Here at FlickDirect, our goal is to provide up-to-date reviews on theatrical, home entertainment, and television series. Check out the scoop on upcoming films or programming, and even our take on the classics.

Prisoners

(Chris Rebholz) 12/17/2013 4:29 PM EDT
Much more than the story of two kidnapped children and the desperate father willing to do whatever he can to find them, Prisoners is an unsettling labyrinth of impossible decisions, gut-knotting powerlessness and a twisting, turning Zodiac-esque procedural and mystery more complex than the film's straightforward trailers suggest. Director Ville... Read More

Impractical Jokers: Season One

(Chris Rebholz) 12/17/2013 8:43 AM EDT
It seems as if the punked-and-pranked genre of television ought to be dead by now, but four New York guys prove that it isn't in "(Impractical) Jokers," a gleefully idiotic show that has its premiere Thursday night on TruTV. Since then the show has garnered more and more fans as time passes. Unfortunately I am not one of them. While the p... Read More

Simpsons: Season 16

(Chris Rebholz) 12/16/2013 11:43 AM EDT
Perhaps the biggest indicator of just how indestructible The Simpsons seems to be is the fact that the latest Blu-ray release of The Simpsons is "only" its sixteenth season—which aired virtually a decade ago from fall 2004 to spring 2005! Many of us have always felt a special relationship to Homer, Marge and the rest of the extended... Read More

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

(Paul Kates) 12/12/2013 4:59 PM EDT
Fresh from his victorious game of riddles with Gollum in the previous movie, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the band of dwarves lead by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), as well as the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), continue their quest to The Lonely Mountain and claim what is rightfully theirs. But, in order to succeed, they must battle t... Read More

The Wolverine

(Chris Rebholz) 12/10/2013 2:59 PM EDT
What is it with superheroes these days, anyway? One might think they wouldn't have a whole bunch to complain about, what with their superpowers and everything, and yet more and more films about our favorite good guys tend to wallow in supposedly intense psychological introspection, where moodiness has replaced any simple formulation of a valian... Read More

Getaway

(Chris Rebholz) 12/6/2013 4:30 PM EDT
"Getaway" is a film fueled entirely on stupidity. And not the amusing kind of dumb that generates delightful junk food cinema, but the oppressive, lurching level of idiocy that takes roughly five minutes to sink into the system. Cruelly, there's another 90 minutes of screen activity to digest in "Getaway," and it doesn't go down... Read More

Despicable Me 2

(Chris Rebholz) 12/3/2013 3:38 PM EDT
That 2010's "Despicable Me" turned out to be an enormous hit is a bit of a surprise. Perfectly pleasant but also unremarkable, the feature scratched a certain audience itch at the time, striking a distinct cartoon blow while introducing the world to the hyperactive comedy antics of the minions -- those miniature yellow slapstick machines ... Read More

Paranoia

(Chris Rebholz) 12/2/2013 4:15 PM EDT
Paranoia is one of those films that probably looked great on paper—and maybe even on its actual promotional poster—but which is about as exciting as watching paint dry. This supposed thriller posits Liam Hemsworth as Adam Cassidy a young buck at a high tech firm who dreams of migrating across the river into Manhattan and taking the worl... Read More

Frozen

(John Delia) 11/27/2013 11:12 AM EDT
Disney goes back to its roots with a show tune filled animated adventure for the whole family. Filled with song, action and comedy the film Frozen hits the ground sliding into a holiday almost devoid of family fare. Featuring new characters that are bound to attract both young girls and boys, Frozen should be able to go toe-to-toe with The Hu... Read More

The World's End

(Chris Rebholz) 11/26/2013 11:23 AM EDT
Is there a genre Edgar Wright and cohorts in crime Simon Pegg and Nick Frost haven't tackled? Victorian period romance, I suppose. Otherwise, it's all fair game for the Cornetto Trilogy boys. Shaun of the Dead cut a swath through horror and the house that Romero built, years before the New Zombie Renaissance. Hot Fuzz fired "two guns w... Read More