Never Mind Pop Film

War films that don't star John Wayne typically do not do well in cinemas. Scratch that, with the exception of Saving Private Ryan, these movies don't do well. Whether it's just too soon or depicting an unpopular war, war films are not something audiences clamor to see. Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker took a step in a different direction by aiming at recreating a soldier's experience rather than shaping a political slant out of the story.

Business makes for strange bedfellows, but for Chon, Ben and O, strange bedfellows makes for everyday life.

Audiences watching Savages may be wondering how their shared relationship works, but they are asked to accept it relatively early as intimate scenes come fast and frequently. The film depends on the audience's ability to believe that Chon, Ben and O really love one another and that love never seems to coalesce.

Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson and Blake Lively perform admirably, but their chemistry is always in question. That wouldn't be a problem if we weren't asked to believe that Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson) are best friends and they would do anything to save O (Blake Lively), currently held in a compound guarded by a particularly psychotic Lado (Benecio Del Toro, in gleeful killer mode). Elena (Salma Hayek) wants Ben and Chon's successful drug business, and if she has to kill people to get it, she will. Yet, Elena underestimates these two Laguna res…

Most of the buzz surrounding John Carter has been solely based around the film's budget. Never mind that the film is Andrew Stanton's first live-action film, or that the film predates everything that others claim it to be "ripping off". This is not Star Wars, this is not Avatar, thisis not box-office obsessives' opportunity to destroy a film before it is released because it cost a lot of money. This is a story, plain and simple. Wait for the lights to come up before you make up your mind.

Many films have started out with the premise of a lone man in a world that he doesn't fit in, disjointed from society as much as he is from himself. He has proven himself in battle, to the point where drawing a gun is easier than negotiating. The Civil War has left a hole in John and he isn't sure if that void can be filled again, fortunately, the isolation of the west has provided a break in the meantime. John Carter is not the most unique protagonist, but he is the he…