Movie Reviews, Digital HD Reviews, and Television Reviews

Reviews By Paul Kates

Here at FlickDirect, our goal is to provide up-to-date reviews on theatrical, home entertainment, and television series. Check out the critical reviews off upcoming films or programming, and even our take on the classsics from our critics Tomatometer-Approved Critic, Allison Rose.

Trance

(Paul Kates) 4/10/2013 2:14 PM EDT
I must admit to not having looked forward to a single Danny Boyle film in recent years. I enjoyed his films that were more rough-cut, like Trainspotting,Shallow Grave and 28 Days LaterRead More

Jack Reacher

(Paul Kates) 12/21/2012 7:56 AM EDT
Tom Cruise, the somewhat diminutive movie star, brings to life the hulking figure of ex-military cop Jack Reacher, in Christopher McQuarrie's film adaptation of Lee Child's novel One Shot, and goes a long way in proving the point that size really does not matter. A somewhat disturbing opening scene that sees a sniper take out five random innocent u... Read More

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

(Paul Kates) 12/11/2012 9:48 AM EDT
"In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit." That's how J.R.R.Tolkien introduced us to his first novel set within the realms of Middle Earth -- short, sharp, to the point.. It's a pity then, that in his film adaptation of the same novel, Peter Jackson did not think along such lines.An Unexpected Journey Begins on your iPhone wi... Read More

The Dark Knight Rises

(Paul Kates) 11/26/2012 8:38 PM EDT
This year may well go down as the year of the comic book hero in movie history; there has been a whole host of them. Still, it was no surprise that, among them, one of the most hotly anticipated comic book hero movies of the year was The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR), the last in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Beginning in 2005 with&n... Read More

Skyfall

(Paul Kates) 11/7/2012 11:03 AM EDT
For the past fifty years, one name has been synonymous with the action movie: James Bond. Fifty years in one profession, spanning 22 feature films, and you would expect the British secret agent with a licence to kill would be worthy of retirement and a decent pension, and that may have been the case when news broke in 2010 of financial troubles at ... Read More

Taken 2

(Paul Kates) 10/5/2012 9:09 AM EDT
Liam Neeson first appeared as former CIA operative Bryan Mills in 2008's Taken, in which Mills's daughter was kidnapped by an Albanian sex-trafficking gang while holidaying in Paris. Naturally enough, the overprotective father went to Europe, kicked butt, and rescued his only child. Now 2012 brings the imaginatively titledTaken 2 to our s... Read More

The Sweeney

(Paul Kates) 9/20/2012 12:26 PM EDT
TV in the UK in the 1970's may not have been unqualifiedly describable as brilliant, but one of the shining lights from that era was cop show "The Sweeney", which starred the late great John Thaw and Dennis Waterman as Regan and Carter. The Sweeney is now on the big screen, set in modern day London with Ray Winstone and Ben Drew playi... Read More

The Cold Light of Day

(Paul Kates) 9/6/2012 10:50 AM EDT
When recently failed businessman Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) goes to Spain for a weeklong sailing vacation with his family, it appears he thought that nothing else in his world could get any worse. But after returning from a brief trip ashore, Shaw finds it difficult to locate the family yacht; when he does, his already fragile world is shattere... Read More

The Expendables 2

(Paul Kates) 8/17/2012 8:41 AM EDT
The Expendables are back, and this time they are even more explosive than before. All the old cohorts from the original movie return, joined by new recruits Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), Booker (Chuck Norris), Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Maggie (Yu Nan), in director Simon West’s sequel.In 2010, the first Expendables read like a who’s ... Read More

Rock of Ages

(Paul Kates) 6/14/2012 9:43 AM EDT
The raw edge of 1980's rock music, mixed liberally with the associated lingo, leads to a fun-packed, two hours of movie fun in the form of Rock of Ages. It should have you singing along to a whole host of recognizable hits that have stood the test of time.Based on the hit Broadway show, the movie follows wannabe singers Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and... Read More