Movie reviews – Brian Garside

Man of Steel – My Review

June 20, 2013 by Brian Garside

In my mind, Christopher Nolan can do no wrong, the man has yet to make a bad movie, and his Dark Knight trilogy re-invented the superhero genre again. David Goyer has written a ton of amazing movies, and has written some of my favourite comics.

Zach Snyder…he has made movies I have enjoyed looking at, and creates the best movie trailers on the planet…but has yet to execute on a good movie.

So with that in mind, my hopes for The Man of Steel were earthbound. When I saw that it was 2 hours and 30 minutes long…sigh. Before it was released though, I was defending the movie, saying that our memories of the 1978 “classic” are clouded by the mists of time. Having just watched it again recently…that movie just isn’t that good when exposed to the cold hard light of 2013.

Unfortunately my already low hopes were dashed, and I nearly walked out of the theatre on three separate occasions, and there is no way in hell I will be taking my kids to this flick any time soon.

The movie was commercially successful, but unfortunately the Superman story…domed planet, desperate scientists, last hope, kindly couple…that story was missed.

Avatar Review from the Phantom Menace reviewer

February 2, 2010 by Brian Garside

A while back I posted a bunch of videos from Red Letter Media which comprised a 70 minute review of The Phantom Menace. He’s back with an 18 minute review of Avatar, and while his quick wit, and strange-sub narrative are present in these videos as well, the review itself misses the mark in a few places.

The Best Movies of 2009

January 1, 2010 by Brian Garside

I have loved movies since I was a kid, and in the summer of 1989 my buddy Ryan and I saw every flim that opened except Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Return of the Swamp Thing. That summer I decided I wanted to make films for a living. I went to school for TV production and did a brief stint in TV land, as a production assistant, editor, and graphic designer before discovering my true calling – the internet.

Since the arrival of Kaylin and Maks it’s been harder to get out and see movies, but since moving to London we have a combination of built-in babysitting (thanks Grandma), and Char and I go out some nights on our own to catch movies individually.

It turns out I saw a lot of movies in 2009! Good for me. We had a new theatre open up near us this year, the Westmount VIP is about a 5 minute drive from our house, and it’s a spectacular facility. I’d say I saw about 80% of my movies there. The VIP part is that you can pay about $5.00 more for a ticket with reserved seating in a theatre where they have plush leather seats, concession people come to your seat, and because it’s licensed it’s 19+ (which means no annoying kids!).

Here were my favourite movies of 2009 in alphabetical order (because ranking them 1-10 is kind of pointless).

70 Minute Review of The Phantom Menace

December 21, 2009 by Brian Garside

Okay, we all know that The Phantom Menace was a bad movie. But WHY was it a bad movie? This dude explores the minute details of what sucked over the course of seven 10 minute clips…and they’re fascinating, while still being funny (inappropriate, curse filled in some points, but freaking hilarious).

Movie Review: Avatar

December 20, 2009 by Brian Garside

James Cameron's Avatar

This has been a big year for movies. There was a lot of really good stuff. Star Trek set the bar of how good Sci Fi could be and rejuvinated a tired franchise. The Hurt Locker set new standards for what tension could be. Inglorious Basterds reinvented the war movie. UP showed us that even when the concept is baffling on paper, Pixar can make it work (seriously, who expected a movie with a cranky old dude as the main protagonist to be an action adventure flick?).

It was also a year where special effects became boring. I sat through both GI Joe and Transformers, and was pretty much bored the entire time. Both Stephen Somers and Michael Bay have forgotten that in order for action to have impact, you need pauses for the audience to catch up.

James Cameron finally showed us what he’s been working on for the last decade and a half, and while the story itself is a rehash of existing material…the technology he showcased and the art direction entirely redefined movies as we know them, and made me a believer in 3D which up until now was a weird gimmick I had little interest in looking at.

I could go on at length about how beautiful it was, how Cameron once again pushed technology to its’ limits, or how 3D may be the silver bullet that kills movie piracy.

Instead of that I’ll tease you with one word.

Wow.

Movie Review: This Is It

November 9, 2009 by Brian Garside

Michael Jackson is my generation’s Elvis Presley. We grew up with his music, and for many of us, his songs are the soundtrack of the 80’s. I remember in grade 6 when Ms. Hutchinson gathered us all on the 2nd floor to watch the brand new Michael Jackson video for Thriller, and how it made me realize that you could make a movie in 8 minutes.

Much like Presley, Jackson was not known for his performances in the end, but rather the circus that surrounded him. He became a bad punchline to an unfunny joke. Unlike Presley ugly allegations surrounded Jackson and rumours of inappropriate conduct with minors.

The last decade of his life far outshone the first four decades, his death (ironically of drug abuse much like Presley’s) came as both a shock, and to no real surprise. We had seen him literally fall apart before our eyes for years.

Still, Michael Jackson left a legacy of music that can’t be overlooked. He’s the most important pop figure of the last 30 years (with only Madonna arguably being in his stratosphere), and this film is a chronicle of the preparations for his final European tour.

Summer Movie Review Blowout

June 28, 2009 by Brian Garside

I’ve actually managed to watch quite a few summer movies this year, and other than Star Trek, I haven’t mentioned any of them. So this is a quick blow out review list of Wolverine, Fast and Furious, Up, The Hangover, and Drag Me To Hell.

I’ve still yet to see Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2 (both pure popcorn movies), and I really want to see Away We Go (although I doubt it will play in London), but so far I’m really impressed with the summer movie crop.

Movie review: Star Trek

May 8, 2009 by Brian Garside

I love a good science fiction film, and in the last decade there have only been a handful of really great ones. I also love the original Star Trek series, not enough that I know trivia, or would die if I ran into Leonard Nemoy or anything (though I would go mental if I met William Shatner). I love Star Trek 2, 6, and First Contact, because they’re sci fi first and Star Trek second.

The new Star Trek abandons all of the continuity of the original series, but keeps the archetypal relationships, the technology, and keeps the spirit of the original without being a slave to the cannon of the various Trek series.

JJ Abrams took all of the elements that worked, turned them up to 11 and discarded the rest.

I watched the Watchmen

March 7, 2009 by Brian Garside

Today Char and I got to catch a matinee of Watchmen, and it was…

Watchmen, for those of you who don’t know is the adaptation of a 12 issue mini-series produced by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in 1987 (and available on All New Comics as a softcover and hardcover edition). It is about big ideas, treating comic book superheroes as if they were in a real world setting, and the changes that would happen to history if this were the case.

Movie Review The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

January 4, 2009 by Brian Garside

Char and I were able to get out to a movie this evening (thanks to the stellar babysitting services of my Mom and Dad), and we caught The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I’ve been wanting to see since the first trailers were released nearly a year ago. David Fincher is a great director, and even his films that don’t totally engross me (such as the Jodi Foster vehicle “Panic Room”) still have moments in them.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button however is epic in scope, gorgeous in execution, and tells a haunting and memorable story.