Retro 'Shadows' Thrills as a Jagged Supernatural Ride

Director Tim Burton tackles the soap opera drama of Collinswood Manor with his usual crew.

Tim Burton is one of those directors who can’t shake himself out of his comfort zone of being predictable. His past several films all seem to have the same recurring elements, namely the ever-quirky performances of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as well as haunting scores from Danny Elfman, which serve as the ideal complement for the consistent dark cinematic themes. To some, the constant repetition of the same collaborators over and over may seem like taking the easy way out, yet we don’t criticize Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan for being equally guilty of reusing talent. 

Simply put, Tim Burton retaining his predictable state functions as the best outcome, not only because it has worked time and time again, but we go in knowing exactly what to expect from him as a filmmaker. With Dark Shadows, Burton takes the 1960s supernatural soap opera with the same name and revises years of canon to ultimately match his peculiar style and fit within a constrictive two-hour timeframe. Bogged down in gothic undertones and vengeful tendencies, Dark Shadows is right up Burton’s alley, who alongside Johnny Depp were both fans of the original show.

2011 Fizzles Out with Yet Another Valentine's....'New Year's Eve'

Valentine's Day isn't the only holiday that Hollywood can cash in on for a quick ensemble film. 

Chick flicks have always been a dime a dozen – sappy, unreal easily fixable little worlds with a perfect little ending topped off with some pretty bow. Sometimes one linear sappy story is way more than one can handle at any given moment. Then Garry Marshall gave us Valentine’s Day, where it wasn’t just one story of love, but somehow a whole bunch intermixed with one another and better yet, throwing in pop celebrities and product placement for the sake of filling up two hours. 

It’s not over; not by a long shot. Swap out boxes of chocolates and dozen roses for champagne and annoying party favors to celebrate another year gone by and countdown another three hundred odd days until that infamous Mayan prediction. Like Marshall’s previous ensemble film, New Year’s Eve follows countless storylines in the Big Apple, leading up the final moments of the year.

Eastwood Slows Down with Hoover Bio-Pic

Beneath those layers of makeup, Leonardo DiCaprio emerges as a seasoned J. Edgar Hoover.

Something as simple as a name can trigger certain keywords about a person. Pioneer. Powerful. Controversial. Those three words can describe a number of people, yet one man who innovated untouched crime scenes, fingerprint identification and wiretapping is a perfect fit to that mold. 

Director Clint Eastwood’s J.  Edgar follows the rise and fall of the career and highly debated personal life of J. Edgar Hoover, embodied by the phenomenal presence of Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio is unquestionably the strongest asset of the production, maneuvering between Hoover in his heyday and in his twilight with his one of his most remarkable performances to date.