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Film 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.
 
(Chris Rebholz) 03/12/2014 10:05 AM EDT Stand-up comedy is no laughing matter. Well, let me rephrase that. The business of stand-up comedy is no laughing matter. Australian stand up Jim Jefferies isn't exactly a household name in the United States, but he's the latest comedian to try to transport his routines, at times whole cloth, into an often snarky sitcom format. If the most ... Read More |
(Chris Rebholz) 02/27/2014 12:27 PM EDT Cormac McCarthy's name may only be instantly recognizable to the more literary minded, or at least to those who really pay attention to film credits as they whisk by, but there's little doubt that the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winning author has had a hand in several well regarded film triumphs. Novels by McCarthy have provided source materi... Read More |
 
(Chris Rebholz) 02/24/2014 11:05 AM EDT It began with a simple image: an astronaut, topping end over end, adrift in space. Over the next four years, that image evolved into Gravity: a breathtaking cinematic marvel, a stunning technical achievement and an incredibly powerful human drama worthy of winning every one of the ten Academy Awards for which it's nominated. Director Alfonso Cu... Read More |
(Chris Rebholz) 02/24/2014 10:45 AM EDT Every family has a skeleton or two in its closet, but what if that skeleton were in fact a fully flesh and blood body—like a secret identity? While The Americans may seem on its face to be slightly ridiculous, positing a couple of Soviet era KGB agents who have integrated into American society as a typical suburban couple (replete with kids w... Read More |
(Chris Rebholz) 02/19/2014 2:45 PM EDT Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate is a strangely groggy, awkwardly generic Julian Assange biopic; a made-for-TV-quality misfire with aspirations of Social Network greatness destined instead to share bargain bin real estate with the likes of Swordfish and Antitrust. Benedict Cumberbatch is miscast as a stringy haired, marble mouthed Assange... or p... Read More |
 
(Chris Rebholz) 02/19/2014 10:07 AM EDT Pray tell, has Tyler Perry started working under pseudonyms other than Madea? For all intents and purposes, Baggage Claim could be yet another Perry enterprise, for it depicts glamorous, upscale African Americans confronting a host of supposedly comedic issues, with nary a hint of real character or even much story to propel the film along. This is ... Read More |
 
(Chris Rebholz) 02/19/2014 9:55 AM EDT It's probably a good thing that the creative staff behind Free Birds decided not to go with the film's original title, Turkeys, a name which more or less would have invited snarky critical commentary. Free Birds is indeed a turkey, a kind of overly plumped and stuffed entertainment that is flightless and badly proportioned. Summing up Free ... Read More |
(Chris Rebholz) 02/13/2014 10:04 AM EDT It's tough out there for a concert film these days. Ever since Miley Cyrus brought Hannah Montana to box office gold in 2008, Hollywood has been chasing the big money with efforts devoted to The Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and One Direction. The genre receives a much needed kick in the behind with "Metallica: Through the Never,&... Read More |
(Chris Rebholz) 02/13/2014 9:07 AM EDT For the tenth anniversary of Clint Eastwood's multi-Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby, Warner Home Video is reissuing the title on Blu-ray, having previously released it in November 2006, in the format's early days. However, Blu-ray fans will be disappointed to learn that, despite over seven years of advances in the technology and craft of ... Read More |
(Chris Rebholz) 01/27/2014 4:24 PM EDT Will James Gandolfini be the latest recipient of a posthumous Academy Award nomination? The Academy Awards haven't been shy about recognizing deceased performers and behind the scenes craftsmen from literally the first year the statuettes were handed out. Many other less generally known names have received at least nominations through the years... Read More |