Wrapping things up

In case you haven't noticed, there hasn't been much action here on the Movie Blog for about a month.  Part of that is real life has been extremely busy for me. And the fact is, things show no sign of slowing down any time soon. But the truth is, if I were still as enthusiastic about doing this blog as I was when it started seven years and a month or so ago, I'd find the time. But the enthusiasm just isn't there anymore.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the blog during its run - Pamela Zoslov, Charles Cassady Jr., Pete Roche, George Thomas, Matt Finley, Joseph Anthony, Candice Lee Catullo, Eric Sever, Marcie Gainer, Eddie Fleisher, Milan Paurich, Grace Snyder,  Zoe Brown, Edward Mishic, R. J. Justavick, Ben Lybarger, Ric Nimrod, Jeff Niesel, and Wayne Richards.  

 

And of course, thanks to John Ewing and Timothy Harry at the Cleveland Cinematheque, Dave Huffman at Cleveland Cinemas, The Owens Group, Allied, and all the other great PR people, filmmakers, and distributors who provided The Cleveland Movie Blog with advance access to the films covered here. 

And finally, thank you to the readers who visited this site.

With what little free time I have, there are only so many creative projects I can pursue. And I feel as if I've pursued this one as far as I want to. It's been a lot of fun, but now it's time to move on to something else. And it'll be kind of nice to go back to watching movies just for fun, too. Not to mention not having to watch the ones that aren't any fun all the way to the end just because I have to write a review.

I'm still planning on doing a year-end best/worst wrap up at the end of the month, and after that... 

 

 THE END

Sincerely,

 

Bob Ignizio

Pitch Perfect 2

Review by Candice Catullo

For me, the tone of PITCH PERFECT 2 is set perfectly by it’s two most dramatic commentators, Gail and John. Played by Elizabeth Banks (HUNGER GAMES) and John Michael Higgins (BEST IN SHOW), the overzealous and politically incorrect a cappella super fans embody the intended theatrical whimsy of the PITCH PERFECT series. Plus, they really are funny.

First, a comparison to the original PITCH PERFECT movie (2012). The sequel stuck with essentially the same cast, including the core singing group – The Barden Bellas – with some minor additions and no major players missing from this sequel. Most of the running jokes were also back, which leads me to believe the game plan was to stick with what worked.

Unfriended

Review by Joseph Anthony

The tagline of UNFRIENDED is “If you sign off, you die!” If that doesn’t sound appealing to you then you may know right away that this might not be your kind of thing.

The setup and premise are simple: The movie plays out entirely on the computer screen of our lead, Blaire (Shelley Hennig, OUIJA), a high school girl who is dating her Skype buddy, Mitch (Moses Jacob Storm).  All plot details are revealed to the audience through Skype, iMessage, Facebook, Gmail, YouTube and an assortment of other sites. If you are unfamiliar with online jargon and websites geared to teens and young adults, it may be difficult to keep up at times.  

The Longest Ride

Review by Candice Lee Catullo

This film, based on Nicholas Sparks’ 2013 novel by the same name, is the most recent in a long string of Sparks’ big screen adaptations. After ten movies, it seems like it's down to a science – the science of really good-looking actors writing love letters and getting caught in the rain.

THE LONGEST RIDE is the love story of a sorority sister and a bull rider. Britt Robertson (DAN IN REAL LIFE, SCREAM 4) plays Sophia, a Manhattan-bound art history student at Wake Forrest University. Sophia’s sorority sisters drag her along on an outing to the local bull riding competition – to meet hot bull riders, obviously – where she meets North Carolina rancher and professional bull rider Luke, played by Scott Eastwood (FURY, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, INVICTUS). They meet and seemingly fall instantly in love.

Editor Bob Ignizio looks back at 2014 for the Cleveland Movie Blog

By Bob Ignizio

2014 proved to be an eventful year both for me personally, and for the Cleveland Movie Blog. The biggest thing was becoming a homeowner. While that was a great development, the house we bought required a lot of work to get into shape, making it harder than usual to stay on top of the blog. And with digital distribution making it easier for small features to get limited runs in theaters, trying to review everything that played in Cleveland was a far more daunting task than in years past.

Compounding all this, The Cleveland Movie Blog had to bid farewell to some of our staff writers, including long time contributor Pete Roche. Pete was an invaluable asset to this blog. He was a little more mainstream in his tastes than some of us, and I will forever be grateful that he was willing to handle almost all of the CGI kiddie flick reviews while he was part of the team. I sincerely wish him the best in his future endeavors, and should his schedule permit, would gladly welcome him back to the fold. In addition to Pete, we also lost Grace Snyder to another state, and other commitments have forced Milan Paurich to cut back on his efforts here for the moment.

Hello, Goodbye: Comings and goings on the Cleveland Movie Blog

Hey folks, Bob Ignizio, editor of the Cleveland Movie Blog here. You may have noticed recently a couple of new contributors to the site. The latest additions to our staff are Joseph Anthony and Marcie Gainer, and you can read all about them in their bios on our contributor's page.

The reason we've had to bring in this new blood is that a couple of our semi regular contributors have moved on to far more interesting things at the moment. Pamela Zoslov, who has been with the Cleveland Movie Blog since its inception, recently went back to Scene magazine to take a position as copy editor, and also to write the occasional movie review. Pam really has been an invaluable asset to this site and will always be welcome here at the Cleveland Movie Blog. Seeing as her current gig actually comes with a paycheck, though, I'm hoping things continue to go well enough at Scene that she doesn't need us as an outlet.

Another occasional contributor, Ben Lybarger, has also been extremely busy with far more productive and interesting pursuits than reviewing movies for some fly by night website. Should his world travels slow down, you may well see more of his writing here. If not, the loss is certainly ours and not his. Anyway, that's about it for now. Hope you like the site and the new writers, but whatever you think, don't hesitate to leave a comment or drop us an email at clevelandmovieblog@gmail.com. We want to know your opinions about us good or bad.

Writers wanted

The Cleveland Movie Blog is looking for a new blogger to join our team. This is an unpaid position, but you would get to see movies for free and have a soapbox from which to foist your opinions on the general public. Applicants must first and foremost be able to write competently and meet deadlines. You don't necessarily have to be an expert in film history, but if you don't at least occasionally watch movies that are in black and white and/or are subtitled, you're probably not the person we're looking for. And last but not least, you must currently reside in NE Ohio (doesn't have to be Cleveland, but within 30 miles or so). If interested, send an email to: clevelandmovieblog@gmail.com.

Cleveland Movie Blog vs. Mildly Relevant: The Smackdown

Voting has begun!

Voting in Cleveland Magazine's "Nothing But Net" Blogger Brackets tournament is now open, and will remain so through 5pm on March 9th. Click here to vote for your favorite blogs in all the categories, including we hope The Cleveland Movie Blog in the entertainment bracket.

It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated...

Cleveland Magazine is holding a "March Madness" style tournament to pick the best Cleveland area bloggers, and we've been nominated. We're pleased to be recognized alongside so many other fine blogs, any of which are worthy of winning. Unfortunately our competition in the first round, Joe Baur's Mildly Relevant, wants to play dirty. We prefer to take the high road, so before we do our critical worst to Joe, we offer him this warning.

 Anyway, as we mention in this video we don't yet know the link for where you can vote - that will apparently be announced sometime today. As soon as we have that information we'll post it in a new entry.  Here's the link to vote: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LHKQGN8 Once it's up, remember - vote early and vote often!

The Cleveland Movie Blog is One Year Old

By Bob Ignizio

I'm not big on tooting my own horn, but I did want to acknowledge that the Cleveland Movie Blog reaches its first anniversary today. I started this blog with the intent of reviewing as many of the films playing in the Northeast Ohio area as possible while also giving some attention to area filmmakers and events. I think we've done that for the most part, and I'm especially proud of the fact that we cover a large number of the films playing at the Cleveland Cinematheque, The Cedar Lee Theatre, and the Capitol Theatre, some of which have not been reviewed in traditional print outlets. Of course I always want the Blog to do better, and even when it's only something like JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER that opens and closes without one of our writers offering their two cents, I still feel bad about not covering it.