Director Baz Luhrmann’s take on the literary classic, “The Great Gatsby,” is a shallow film with unlikable, one-dimensional characters and a predictable story. Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) is rich, yet cowardly. His love, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), is flaky and insincere.…
The summer movie season has officially arrived with “Iron Man 3” blasting out of the gates with a huge $175 million opening weekend. Combine that with an additional $500 million in overseas box office, and it’s safe to say that…
I am somewhat torn over “Iron Man 3.” As a film fan, I thought it was entertaining and a tremendous improvement over the plodding, exposition heavy “Iron Man 2.” But as a comic book geek, I was a tiny bit…
Remember Susan Powter, that practically bald, platinum blonde fitness freak from the ’90s? Remember what she’d yell out whenever she was on TV? “Stop the Insanity!” That’s what I felt like screaming to my TV while watching last night’s new…
Director Michael Bay exemplifies the image of the “ugly American.” He’s excessive, over-indulgent, loud, brash and he doesn’t give a you-know-what.I’ve missed him so much.Bay has directed some of my favorite action films, including “Bad Boys,” “Bad Boys II,” “The…
Forget the trailer you’ve seen for this movie. It’s a total bait and switch. The trailer promises epic sci-fi action adventure, but the actual tone of the film is much different from the adrenaline rush in the two-minute clip. But…
Fans of everyone’s favorite locally shot TV police drama were finally given another episode of the “Alex O’Loughlin Show,” oops, I mean “Hawaii Five-0,” after a break of several weeks. Seriously, Danno, Chin Ho and Kono were given literally 10…
On Thursday evening, “Linsanity,” which documents the rise of Jeremy Lin, a Chinese-American NBA star, closed out the Hawaii International Film Festival’s Spring Showcase at Dole Cannery Theatres. Earlier in the day, the producers, director and narrator (Daniel Dae Kim)…
The Nonstop Honolulu team is reviewing films from the Hawaii International Film Festival’s Spring Showcase, which runs from April 5-11 at Dole Cannery Theatres. Here are our reviews, along with the screening dates and times.THE SPECTACULAR NOWThursday, April 11 at…
I’ve prefaced several of my reviews of animated films by stating that I’m not a fan of the genre. For some reason, I’ve never been able to fully appreciate and enjoy them. Every time I’ve sat in a theater for…
“Olympus Has Fallen” wants to be a throwback to the testosterone-filled violent action films of the ’90s. It shares many elements of those films, such as the muscle-bound hero looking for redemption, the bloody shootouts, the bureaucrats sitting in the…
Locally produced by Kinetic Films, “Hang Loose” is a comedy about a bachelor party in Hawaii that goes terribly wrong. I had the opportunity to sit down with three members of the film’s cast – Dante Basco, Dion Basco and…
How does the saying go? “If you don’t have anything nice to say….” Well if I were to abide by that saying, this would be a very short blog.I fully understand the need for filler episodes. It’s an extremely challenging…
Everyone’s always talking about “buying local” and “eating local.” Well how about “watching local?”Local film production company Kinetic Films has partnered with Consolidated Theatres to show three feature films, “Hang Loose,” “Paradise Broken” and the short film anthology “6B” starting…
No one can say director Sam Raimi is afraid to take on a challenge. After creating a brand new universe for one of the most popular comic book characters with his “Spider-Man” trilogy, he now offers his interpretation of one…
I’ve never been a fan of movies like “The Lord of the Rings,” “Clash of the Titans” and “Harry Potter,” which are based on fantasy with lots of CGI. So when I learned of “Jack the Giant Slayer,” I imagined…
Unlike last year’s Oscars, most of the major categories are extremely difficult to accurately predict this year. After correctly predicting seven of eight winners out of the major categories last year, I am predicting some wild upsets this time around.…
Sorry for the delay in this week’s “Hawaii Five-0” recap, but I caught a bit of the flu Monday night so wasn’t able to watch the episode until today. CBS was smart to tie in this week’s episode with the…
Today is Valentine’s Day, which can only mean one thing. It’s time for terrorists and mayhem! That’s right, “A Good Day to Die Hard,” the fifth film in the “Die Hard” franchise opens in theaters today with yet another installment…
Whoa, that was a lot of Hawaiiana thrown at audiences this week. It’s like the show’s Hawaiian consultant took a few weeks off, then came back with a vengeance, literally. A local fish market owner gets killed and his loved…
So is anyone in Hawaii still watching “Hawaii Five-0?” Just the hardcore Scott Caan fans perhaps?The show returned with its first new episode after Caan’s unfortunate comments on a national talk show with “Hookman,” a remake of an episode from…
Every year, millions gather on Super Bowl Sunday to eat, drink, talk story and… watch commercials. Sure, there’s an important football game going on, but what do many of us really look forward to? Seeing which TV ads can wow…
After the conclusion of the “Twilight” saga, Summit Entertainment surely was looking for another cash-cow franchise to lure young audiences back to the theaters. They may have found it in “Warm Bodies,” based on the popular Young Adult novel by…
After announcing our team’s picks for the movies they’d like to see back on the big screen as part of Consolidated Theatre’s Hana Hou Picture Show, we opened up voting to our readers to help decide the top four films…
“Hawaii Five-0” actor Scott Caan got himself into a little bit of trouble last week after stating some unpopular opinions of Hawaii during an interview with talk show host Chelsea Handler on her show “Chelsea Lately.” When asked about living…
I have just one word to describe my reaction to this episode. Love.“Hawaii Five-0” took a break from the generic stories of rich people in Kahala killing each other over greed to give us a story that focused on the…
Korean-American singer-songwriter David Choi is in Honolulu this week to perform at a concert on Saturday, and to shoot a music video for “Thinking About You,” a love song inspired by Hawaii. The 26-year-old YouTube sensation has nearly a million…
Where’s my favorite sushi in Hawaii? Without hesitation it’s Sushi Sasabune. I’ve been there five times and have come away amazed and beyond satisfied each time. Then why only five visits? Well, there’s a concept called living within your means…
After taking a short break for the holiday season, “Hawaii Five-0” returned last night with “Kapu,” featuring not one, or two, but three possible endings. The show left it up to viewers to select the villain out of three potential…
The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday, and as usual, there were several surprises and snubs, even more so than normal. “Lincoln” led the way with 12 nominations and not surprisingly, as it’s the type of feel good important film…
Amazingly, I’ve watched 60 movies this year, and that’s not even counting foreign releases. Just pure Hollywood product. That’s more than a movie a week, and still, there are films out there I wanted to see, but missed. So it…
Just like the cowbell, we could all use more George Takei. Best known for playing Sulu on the original “Star Trek” series, Takei guest starred as Chin Ho’s uncle who knows the secrets of the local moonshine business. After seeing…
John Hughes was the voice of a generation that prematurely went silent in 2009, when he died of a heart attack at just 59 years old. The prolific writer, producer and director of many hits in the ‘80s and ‘90s…
You can never go wrong with a little bit of C. Thomas Howell. The star of ’80s classic films such as, “The Outsiders,” “”Red Dawn,” “The Hitcher” and “Soul Man” guest starred in “Ha`awe Make Loa” and delivered a great…
“The Thieves” just recently became the all-time, top-grossing movie in Korean history, passing Bong Joon Ho’s excellent monster film, “The Host,” and it’s easy to see why. Featuring an all-star cast, a complicated casino heist and glossy production values, it…
Nothing like a little bit of Vanessa Marcil playing a psychologist suspected of murder to spice up this bland third season of “Hawaii Five-0.” I’ve admired her um, talents, for years. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve even watched…
Can we stop with the pointless remakes now? Please?Sure, there have been a few good remakes sprinkled among the many awful ones, but I would love it if Hollywood would at least try to pretend they care more about art…
Sorry, “Hawaii Five-0,” but two wrongs don’t make a right.In what was supposed to be a tearful reunion between Mommy McG and his annoying little sister, all I could think was why should I care about two characters I never…
Korean director Hur Jin Ho takes the well-known story from French novelist Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and sets it in 1931 Shanghai, casting three of Asia’s most beautiful faces. Cecilia Cheung and Jang Dong Gun play the scheming Miss Mo…
The “Twilight” saga comes to end with “Breaking Dawn: Part 2,” but was it really necessary for fans to wait a year for the conclusion?Part 2 begins right after the final scene of Part 1, when Bella (Kristen Stewart) awakens…
Movies are the most powerful method of storytelling today. Great tales of action, comedy and human drama are told on a giant screen for two to three hours, visually and audibly stimulating the senses and providing an escape from our…
Now that was an entertaining episode.Audiences got to learn a little about Danno’s past in New Jersey on a fateful day in 2001 and also where his daughter Grace got her name. All of this while the 5-0 team hunted…
As a huge James Bond fan, I was wondering with great anticipation how the film franchise would celebrate its 50th anniversary. I have seen every Bond film from the first (“Dr. No”) to the last (“Quantam of Solace”), and even…
I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but “Hawaii Five-0” has become a show about crazy white folk killing each other in paradise. Sadly, the show has continued to lose its island identity and has become yet another routine police…
I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of animated films. As a single, 30-something male I just don’t think I fall into the target demographic. I roll my eyes at the usual cast of disgustingly cute characters and find myself…
“Cloud Atlas” likely will be the most ambitious film of 2012. The film adaptation of David Mitchell’s bestselling novel spans six different storylines with just the slightest of connections between them. A lawyer gets ill on a slave trading boat…
Have you ever tanked a few assignments at work, then turned in a halfway decent performance on the next task, making you seem at least somewhat competent? That’s what Monday’s episode of “Hawaii Five-0” felt like. After a few very…
Prior to my Las Vegas visit last week, a friend told me about Bacchanal, a new buffet at Caesar’s Palace. I looked up the definition of “bacchanal” and learned it meant a drunken and riotous celebration, a food orgy if…
Episode 3 of Season 3 finds McGarrett and Danno stranded in the ocean after a boat jacker interrupts their fishing trip, as if the two needed any more bonding time. After a totally unnecessary shark side story and seemingly endless…
For film fans like myself, the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theaters transforms into Shangri-La every year in October. For a week and a half every fall, the Hawaii International Film Festival gives Hawaii film buffs the opportunity to experience…
