The Rabbit Room

One Minute Review: Dark Shadows

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have joined up again, this time for Dark Shadows. Fr. Thomas McKenzie has visited the shadows for you, and he has returned with this One Minute Review. You might want to watch it before deciding to spend the time and money on the movie. And in case your $14 have not joined the other billion that the movie has already made, check out the One Minute Review of The Avengers: www.oneminutereview.com/2012/05/avengers.html

One Minute Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a little film getting tons of buzz. And now it has its very own (extra long) One Minute Review. Have a look. And checkout the One Minute Review of Joss Whedon's Cabin in the Woods.

One Minute Review: Blue Like Jazz

This is the One Minute Review of Blue Like Jazz, the movie. How is Thomas going to review a film he actually helped (a tiny bit) bring into existence? Find out.

How John Carter Made Me Young Again

When I walked into the theater on March 9th, I was a skeptic. I’d seen some really weird looking previews that I filed into the “what the heck was that” drawer and tried to forget about, until a friend pointed me to a few facts that the trailer failed to mention. First, the movie was directed by Oscar-winner Andrew Stanton of Wall-E and Finding Nemo. Second, the script was co-written by Pulitzer Prize and Hugo Award-winner Michael Chabon of The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. Third, the film is an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series which was the direct inspiration for Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Dune, Avatar, and basically every space opera trope of the 20th (and 21st) century. As weird as it looked, I had to give it a chance.

One Minute Review: Chronicle

Chronicle is a movie that could easily fly under the radar. All I could tell from the trailer was that stuff flies around and someone is really worried about Andrew. Is it any more than that? The One Minute Review knows for sure.

One Minute Review: The Grey

The Grey is one of those films that could really go either way. It stars Liam Neeson, which is good. The trailer makes it look pretty cool. But it comes from the guy who made the recent A-Team movie, which does not bode well. Is it a throw-away action film, or is there some substance there? Luckily, the One Minute Review has the answers.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore

I discovered this through (I think) my pal Brannon McAllister, co-founder of the now-defunct Portland Studios (click here for a bittersweet farewell painting by our friend Justin Gerard). I was lamenting the absence of Portland's wonder-inspiring internet presence, and he pointed me to Moonbot Studios. I don't know much about them other than that they're based in Louisiana and they produced this beautiful animated short film about stories--sort of. At the very least, it's for anyone who's ever suspected that books were magical. I immediately bought the film for a few bucks on iTunes, but I recently discovered it on Vimeo for your free viewing pleasure. There are worse ways you could spend fifteen minutes today. It was a delight to learn just a few days ago that it's been nominated for an Academy Award. (Congratulations, Moonbots.) And besides, won't it be nice to seem so very in-the-know when you're watching the Oscars with your friends and you can mention offhand that you've actually seen one of the short films?

One Minute Review: The Artist

A black and white silent film? Didn't we stop making those for a reason? What good could come out of that? Watch the One Minute Review to find out.

One Minute Review: The Artist from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.

One Minute Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The classic spy novel gets a modern version with an amazing cast. Will this thriller thrill you? Find out. You can see the One Minute Review of the new Sherlock Holmes movie here: http://www.oneminutereview.com/2012/01/sherlock-holmes-game-of-shadows.html You can check out the OMR of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo over here: http://www.oneminutereview.com/2012/01/girl-with-dragon-tattoo.html

Peter Jackson, I’ve Got Your Back

Back when The Rabbit Room first went live, part of our mission was to indulge in the pleasure of good and beautiful art. We launched with the understanding that there would always be plenty of sites online where readers could form a community around picking apart and criticizing what they didn’t like about certain music, books and film, but that this wouldn’t be that sort of place. Here at the Rabbit Room, we would focus our energy on the books, music, film and ideas that made us want to gather our friends, sit them down and oblige them to discover the Josh Ritters, Hurt Lockers, and Peace Like A Rivers of the world.

Another unspoken, but pretty obvious reality concerning our DNA can be summarized by slightly modifying that wonderful Buechner quote Eric Peters likes to put before us—“the story of any one of us [here at the Rabbit Room] is in some measure the story of us all—[we’re nerds of varying degrees].”