The Tribune

With online video clips already a welcome distraction at the library, it’s hardly surprising that the Fokus Film Festival’s popularity has expanded exponentially in the past four years. The festival, hosted by TVMcGill, showcases the works of film-savvy, creative McGill students and awards prizes to the best films in each category.

Starring Miley Cyrus, Greg Kinnear, and Liam Hemsworth, The Last Song is a too heavy on subplots and a too light on actual content. The casting directors unearthed some hidden gems in supporting actors Bobby Coleman and Carly Chaikin. Coleman plays Cyrus’ younger brother and warmed my cold black heart in ways that only a small child can, especially when sharing the screen with his terminally ill father (Kinnear).

Getting your car or house repossessed is one thing, but getting your new liver repossessed is quite another. In the dark, not-so-distant future of Repo Men, medical advances have led to a manufactured organs market – which is great news, but only if you omit the price tag, of course.

Considering the combination of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Lewis Carroll, it’s a real shame that Alice in Wonderland falls as flat as it does. The film is not dark enough to be Burton’s, the Mad Hatter is not distinctive enough to be Depp’s, and the story is not clever enough to be Carroll’s.

Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese’s new psychological thriller, has dominated the box office since its release on February 19. Grossing a mean $40.2 million, it also marks the illustrious director’s most successful opening weekend to date. Though not on par with his best films, Shutter Island reflects Scorsese’s genius simply by being meticulously put together, well-cast, and generally captivating – a feat that many films currently in theatres have failed to achieve.

Kevin Smith’s supposed comedy, Cop Out, aims to be a big-budget action movie but falls flat with a potentially talented but ultimately disappointing cast. Combine Smith’s lackluster directing efforts with a poor script written by Mark and Robb Cullen and mediocre performances by both Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, and you have a two-hour long movie that feels more like four, with only a handful of scenes that are laugh-out-loud-worthy.

Rachel, a new documentary from French-Israeli director Simone Bitton, tells the story of Rachel Corrine, an American activist who was killed while attempting to prevent the bulldozing of a Palestinian home in 2003. To this day Israel denies responsibility for her death, claiming the bulldozer operator’s line of sight was obstructed by the mound of dirt that crushed her.

In cinema, there’s always a fine line between the supernatural and the ridiculous, and the best horror films flirt with this boundary without crossing it. Unfortunately, director Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman was less than tactful in his approach to the werewolf genre, and the film ends up resembling more of a farce than a truly scary movie.

On Friday, I lost a bet with an A&E editor. Two days later, I was by myself, waiting in a long line of moon-eyed couples at the AMC Forum, ready to review Garry Marshall’s newest film, Love, Actually II. Wait, no, that was the working title. I mean Valentine’s Day, starring everyone you would expect.

It’s been said that there’s only two different types of stories: either the protagonist leaves his or her old life, or someone new enters it. Oversimplified? Yes, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any truth to it. In the case of Saint John of Las Vegas, it’s both.