Kevin A. Ranson Movie Reviews & Previews

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Official Websites:
http://moviecrypt.com

Kevin A. Ranson

""They're coming to get you Barbara...!" (Although my alter ego is fond of saying "I'M coming to get you, Barbara!")"

Agrees with the Tomatometer 64% of the time.

Biography:: What his grammar school teachers called “underachieving,” Kevin A. Ranson called “being bored to tears” and spent every possible second making up projects to fuel his unattended creativity. After discovering nothing interesting at college other than movies and role-playing games, Kevin escaped from West “By God” Virginia to travel the world for six years on the US Navy’s dime while compiling ideas for books, games, and screenplays. Now from his home page at ThinkingSkull.com, he owns/manages MovieCrypt.com as a certified (or certifiable) film critic endorsed by the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org). He also works as a freelance game writer/designer when not working on his indie role-playing game at KindlingMoon.com. Kevin currently resides in Jacksonville, Florida.
Favorites:: Of all time, thus far, and in no particular order: "Contact," "The 13th Warrior," "Ghostbusters," "Once Upon a Time in the West," "The Exorcist," "The Fellowship of the Ring," Disney's "Aladdin," "The Iron Giant," "Gattaca," "Back to the Future," "Shaun of the Dead," and my personal guilty pleasure, "Killer Klowns from Outer Space." (I do admit to a favorable predisposition to films with normal people catalyzed by slightly-supernatural circumstance!)
Publications:: MovieCrypt.com
Critics' Group:: Online Film Critics Society

Total Reviews:: 615
Total QuickRatings:: 86

Location:: Jacksonville, Florida

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 615

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
3.5/4.0	62%	Evil Dead (2013)	" Enjoy but be warned: you might need a tetanus shot and stitches just watching it." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Apr 7, 2013
3.0/4.0	28%	G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)	" Folks, we'd all love to see a hard-line G.I. Joe film where everything is realistic, but when was the show ever realistic?" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Mar 31, 2013
3.5/4.0	60%	Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)	" Sam Raimi has managed to recapture the feel and charm of the original 'Wizard of Oz'... and that may be the greatest compliment of all." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Mar 31, 2013
2.0/4.0	39%	The Call (2013)	" ... the only thing worse than pulling the final punch... would have been showing the script cover to 'The Call 2: Aftercall' after the credits." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Mar 27, 2013
1.5/4.0	87%	Frankenweenie (2012)	" ... a padded short story that didn't require embellishment... looks very weak directly compared to the sheer brilliance of the similarly themed ParaNorman." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Mar 23, 2013
2.0/4.0	89%	Lincoln (2012)	" Pushing this film as merely 'Lincoln' is something of an injustice to the man himself, as if audiences wouldn't have any interest in the actual story of the film." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Mar 23, 2013
2.5/4.0	14%	Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)	" ... a guilty pleasure film... pokes (fun) at pop culture and other similar fantasy action films. Purists and "flim buffs" will want to steer clear... to avoid its taint..." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Feb 3, 2013
0.5/4.0	79%	Flight (2012)	" Denzel Washington's one-note character is a prisoner of a one-thought plot." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jan 4, 2013
3.5/4.0	88%	Django Unchained (2012)	" ... it's a Tarantino Western... people will be screaming, the blood will flow freely and be splattered about, and the explosions are unnecessarily bigger than they have to be." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Dec 30, 2012
3.5/4.0	66%	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)	" ... there's nothing to hate or fear here (unless you buy the super-chubby size soda). Welcome back, Middle Earth." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Dec 16, 2012
3.0/4.0	43%	Hotel Transylvania (2012)	" ... feels more like a good Cartoon Network series pilot than a great feature film... no one thought to do a parody of The Eagle's 'Hotel California' for this?" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Sep 30, 2012
4.0/4.0	93%	Looper (2012)	" ... re-establishes the (time travel) genre in a new and fresh way. And seriously, how cool is it to have an actual blunderbus for an assassin's weapon?" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Sep 29, 2012
3.0/4.0	78%	Dredd (2012)	" A straight-forward dystopian police actioneer with violent tendencies (but without Sylvester Stallone). In two words, it's good." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Sep 23, 2012
3.0/4.0	69%	Ted (2012)	" If you've ever put a Twisted Sister cassette into a Teddy Ruxpin or wished you could have, this movie is for you." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Aug 18, 2012
3.5/4.0	87%	ParaNorman (2012)	" A smart, contemporary monster movie that doesn't talk down to its young or adult audience." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Aug 18, 2012
2.0/4.0	31%	Total Recall (2012)	" ... the machines from I, Robot hitch a ride on the magma train from The Core to invade the world of Blade Runner for the benefit of the citizens living in The Fifth Element?" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Aug 5, 2012
3.5/4.0	87%	The Dark Knight Rises (2012)	" ... Nolan thinks small in a big way... providing an imperfect yet satisfying conclusion, and that in itself is quite an accomplishment." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jul 29, 2012
3.0/4.0	74%	Prometheus (2012)	" (The) parent/child and creator/creation themes (are) pretty deep for a film this pretty. What else did you expect from Ridley Scott?" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jun 10, 2012
3.0/4.0	48%	Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)	" An effective retelling of Snow White that puts the Grimm all back in." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jun 2, 2012
3.0/4.0	70%	Men in Black III (2012)	" Third time's the charm; director Barry Sonnenfeld finally nails a story cool enough for the Men in Black." — MovieCrypt.com Posted May 29, 2012
2.0/4.0	34%	Battleship (2012)	" ... finally exercises its self-awareness bone and has a little fun before the credits roll... worth sneaking into the ending after you see The Avengers again." — MovieCrypt.com Posted May 22, 2012
1.5/4.0	58%	The Dictator (2012)	" Where most of Cohen's films exploit non-actors falling for his ruse, this dictator has been banished to one of those (regrettable and forgettable) SNL movies..." — MovieCrypt.com Posted May 21, 2012
1.5/4.0	38%	Dark Shadows (2012)	" ... it shouldn't surprise anyone that all the funny bits are in the trailers and what's left is a beautiful production design in need of a worthy plot." — MovieCrypt.com Posted May 12, 2012
4.0/4.0	93%	Marvel's The Avengers (2012)	" If you only see one movie this year over and over again, it'll probably be this one." — MovieCrypt.com Posted May 12, 2012
4.0/4.0	92%	The Cabin in the Woods (2012)	" What do you do when a genre has completely played itself out? You reinvent it one last time and let all hell break loose." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Apr 15, 2012
4.0/4.0	88%	Titanic (2012)	" Forget that we know how it all ends; it's the drama of dealing with eventuality that tells the real story here." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Apr 8, 2012
3.5/4.0	51%	John Carter (2012)	" John Carter is an instant classic... Disney should be ashamed of themselves for treating Mars like a red-headed step planet." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Mar 28, 2012
3.0/4.0	85%	The Hunger Games (2012)	" While the ending is a bit of a mess, the rest isn't terrible (and nobody sparkles in the sunlight)." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Mar 25, 2012
3.0/4.0	33%	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)	" ... continues not only the tale of (the Sparrow and Barbossa) rivalry but also why (and how well) they ever worked together to begin with." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Feb 16, 2012
3.5/4.0	85%	Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2011)	" ... a far-fetched but bloody fun film that doesn't talk down to its target audience so much as it celebrates fans of the genre." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jan 22, 2012
4.0/4.0	82%	Trollhunter (2011)	" ... this one is well worth the troll hunt to find." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jan 22, 2012
3.5/4.0	98%	The Artist (2011)	" A story that's so sweet and innocent, it's practically forgivable for being the awards bait it's being offered up as." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jan 9, 2012
3.0/4.0	71%	Hanna (2011)	" Sometimes a gritty, unpolished, and decidedly European-style thriller is exactly what you're looking for." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jan 9, 2012
2.0/4.0	76%	We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012)	" You know those television shows where... it says 'three days earlier' with an explanation of how they got there? It's like that (but in no way satisfying here)." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Jan 2, 2012
0.0/4.0	84%	The Tree of Life (2011)	" If I can prevent just one person from watching this, it'll have been worth suffering through it." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Dec 31, 2011
3.5/4.0	93%	Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011)	" ...everything that worked in the third film amped up to eleven. It's about the team, it's about the mission, and it's about time." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Dec 16, 2011
1.5/4.0	58%	Red State (2011)	" Full of controversial subjects and interesting characters, it's the story that ultimately fails." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Nov 27, 2011
3.5/4.0	77%	Melancholia (2011)	" Beautiful doom, gloom, and the peaceful certainty of the end of the world. What's not to love?" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Nov 25, 2011
3.0/4.0	26%	Green Lantern (2011)	" In an attempt by the script to be both epic and snarky, director Martin Campbell and actor Ryan Reynolds did the best they could with what they were given to work with." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Nov 13, 2011
3.0/4.0	36%	In Time (2011)	" When time really is money, it's hard not to keep looking at your watch. Fortunately, viewing this film won't have you looking at yours." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Nov 9, 2011
3.0/4.0	69%	A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)	" Although still not as fun as the original, fans should enjoy this one better than the preachy second installment (more so if they're slightly blitzed)." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Nov 6, 2011
4.0/4.0	84%	Puss in Boots (2011)	" Family fun adventure with an occasional wink to the adults. Who doesn't love Puss in Boots? Even Guillermo del Toro got in on this!" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Oct 29, 2011
1.0/4.0	68%	Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)	" Bored now. 'Teddy Ruxpin is evil' would have been a more plausible explanation." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Oct 22, 2011
3.0/4.0	75%	Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)	" 'Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me.' Not just pretty words, thanks to the Chiodo brothers." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Sep 29, 2011
3.0/4.0	58%	Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (2011)	" An intimate ankle biter vs. ankle biters battle of flashbulbs, sharp things, and suspense." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Sep 18, 2011
4.0/4.0	72%	Fright Night (2011)	" If the remakers of Conan the Barbarian wonder how the remake of Fright Night got it right, here's a hint: it's the writing, you fools." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Sep 4, 2011
3.0/4.0	61%	Final Destination 5 (2011)	" The best all-around installment of the series (since the original) with an opening sequence that just misses rivaling the intro to the #2 freeway pileup." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Aug 31, 2011
2.0/4.0	24%	Conan the Barbarian (2011)	" Alternate titles may include Conan and the Argonauts, The Seventh Voyage of Conan, or Conan the Scorpion King." — MovieCrypt.com Posted Aug 20, 2011
3.0/4.0	79%	Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)	" The best attempt thus far at bringing Cap off the page and onto screens. Too bad it was hamstrung by 'setupforsequelitis.'" — MovieCrypt.com Posted Aug 8, 2011

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