Mike Sage Movie Reviews & Previews

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Mike Sage

"Exercise gives you endorphines, endorphines make you happy; happy people just don't shoot their husbands! (Legally Blonde)"

Agrees with the Tomatometer 63% of the time.

Biography:: Freelance writer and film critic in Toronto, writing for Peterborough This Week, PopMatters.com and BlogTO.com, also a budding filmmaker, with first short: "Decoding Aleil" having debuted on Canada's Space: the Imagination Station
Favorites:: Death Becomes Her, Contact, Braveheart, Gladiator, The Ring, Dawn of the Dead (remake), Mulan, The Descent, The Departed, Children of Men, 300
Publications:: Peterborough This Week

Total Reviews:: 205

Location:: Downtown Toronto.

Best Reviewed Films

Showing 1 - 50 of 204

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
5/5	94%	Slumdog Millionaire (2008)	" I don't think Boyle could film paint drying and make it dull." — Peterborough This Week Posted Dec 23, 2008
5/5	94%	The Dark Knight (2008)	" a riveting piece of work that will have us all mourning Ledger's loss but smacking our lips for a third entry" — Peterborough This Week Posted Sep 9, 2008
5/5	96%	Ratatouille (2007)	" Don't be surprised if people start called Brad Bird the Spielberg of animation" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 27, 2007
5/5	76%	Superman Returns (2006)	" Superman Returns is a thundering epic of Spielbergian proportions: colossal action, grandiose effects and a breathtaking story." — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 26, 2006
5/5	84%	King Kong (2005)	" I'm sorry Mr. Spielberg; you've just relinquished your title. Peter Jackson is now the reigning god of awesome movies." — Peterborough This Week Posted Dec 14, 2005
5/5	59%	Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)	" since the dialogue is so spectacularly good, we care as much about these two facing their "relationship" as we do watching them, well, beat the crap out of each other. " — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 15, 2005
5/5	89%	Shrek 2 (2004)	" With a witty premise, an all-star cast and a show-stopping rendition of Holding Out For a Hero as the new movie anthem, what's not to love?" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 10, 2004
5/5	90%	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)	" Bring on the geek hate-mail, but Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban mops the floor with Lord of the Rings" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 10, 2004
5/5	85%	Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)	" This is one dangerously fun and ridiculously well made samurai homage meets pop culture pastiche that you'll kill yourself for missing if you even dare try." — Peterborough This Week Posted Oct 13, 2003
5/5	87%	X2: X-Men United (2003)	" Opening the summer blockbuster season with flair, X2: X-Men United overtakes its hype to land the title of best comic book movie ... ever" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jul 16, 2003
4.5/5	57%	Transformers (2007)	" Transformers is in a stellar class of seamless FX films populated by genre classics like Jurassic Park, Twister and Titanic" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jul 4, 2007
4.5/5	60%	300 (2007)	" 300 is an erotic spectacle for men (straight and gay apparently) and this demographic should bask in the bombastic grandeur of discourse, domination and decapitations." — Peterborough This Week Posted Mar 7, 2007
4.5/5	85%	The Descent (2006)	" Parents would be best to protect their children from the consequent psychological trauma of letting them see this." — Peterborough This Week Posted Sep 5, 2006
4.5/5	29%	Silent Hill (2006)	" it's the ferocious production design and unrelenting atmosphere that fully immerses us in Gans' horrifically breathtaking Silent Hill." — Peterborough This Week Posted Apr 20, 2006
4.5/5	87%	Brokeback Mountain (2005)	" Brokeback Mountain is concerned with poignant storytelling and not once is this compromised by the glistening manlove." — Peterborough This Week Posted Jan 19, 2006
4.5/5	88%	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)	" The latest episode of JK's wonderful allegory of childhood maturity demands your muggle attention" — Peterborough This Week Posted Nov 21, 2005
4.5/5	40%	The Island (2005)	" Kudos to Bay for not only envisioning a bleak future that might one day come to be (and keeping those neurons firing) but also for keeping the action thrilling." — Peterborough This Week Posted Aug 4, 2005
4.5/5	91%	Million Dollar Baby (2004)	" Million Dollar Baby is about intelligent, ambitious people we respect and sympathize with, making the viewing experience actually satisfying, unlike, say, Mystic river." — Peterborough This Week Posted Mar 6, 2005
4.5/5	93%	Spider-Man 2 (2004)	" The sequel bests the original for the third time this summer as Spider-man 2 leaves your jaw touching the floor for the entire geek-gasmic blast" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 28, 2004
4.5/5	77%	Big Fish (2003)	" this one runs the life-story gamut with such breathtaking originality you'll barely even notice the lengthy running time" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jan 17, 2004
4.5/5	65%	The Last Samurai (2003)	" It's going to be an uphill battle for those fierce elves, dwarves and wizards to overcome these ferociously gorgeous samurai." — Peterborough This Week Posted Dec 8, 2003
4.5/5	95%	Lost In Translation (2003)	" Sometimes the experience of seeing a film so powerful in its presentation of human character is worth the arguable sacrifice of narrative tension" — Peterborough This Week Posted Sep 28, 2003
4.5/5	92%	School of Rock (2003)	" School of Rock is not only a hilarious fish-out-water comedy but it's going to establish Jack Black as the reigning Whoopi Goldberg of his day" — Peterborough This Week Posted Sep 7, 2003
4.5/5	77%	Holes (2003)	" An honestly extraordinary maturation performance by Even Stevens' Shia LaBeouf proves Disney truly has monopoly over the most talented youth actors" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jul 17, 2003
4.5/5	70%	Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (2003)	" Sporting sequences that make the Matrix Reloaded and Hulk feel like Sunday morning cheesefest cartoons, it's a blockbuster that'll leave you begging for more" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jul 16, 2003
4/5	83%	Atonement (2007)	" Director Joe Wright is quickly establishing himself as a powerhouse adapter of period romance tomes." — Peterborough This Week Posted Apr 15, 2008
4/5	51%	30 Days of Night (2007)	" no amount of desensitization can prepare you for David Slade's chilling vampiric bloodbath. 30 Days of Night is relentlessly brutal horror with nary a comedic wisecracker in sight." — Peterborough This Week Posted Oct 9, 2007
4/5	91%	Hairspray (2007)	" Unlike Eddie Murphy's exploitively unfunny attempts at fat and female, John Travolta makes his character absolutely endearing and charming by playing it relatively low-key." — Peterborough This Week Posted Aug 29, 2007
4/5	91%	Knocked Up (2007)	" Like many films of late, Knocked Up is a little too long, but it's worth it in the end. Stone is so pathetic, we need extra time for Apatow to convince us that Alison shouldn't have an abortion" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 27, 2007
4/5	44%	Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007)	" Needless to say, it all looks and sounds absolutely fabulous, and the return of Geoffrey Rush is simply AAHRResting" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 4, 2007
4/5	56%	Vacancy (2007)	" For a terror tale about snuff torture porn, Vacancy is actually rather subtle." — Peterborough This Week Posted Apr 20, 2007
4/5	78%	Charlotte's Web (2006)	" Charlotte's Web is so good it almost makes a carnivore want to boycott pork." — Peterborough This Week Posted Dec 19, 2006
4/5	65%	Apocalypto (2006)	" Whether or not you still hate Mel Gibson for his drunken Anti-Semitic tirade, Apocalypto is a rousing experience and a spectacular ride." — Peterborough This Week Posted Dec 6, 2006
4/5	73%	V for Vendetta (2006)	" V For Vendetta should be seen less for the conspiracy theories discussion it inspires and more for its vicious storytelling" — Peterborough This Week Posted Apr 10, 2006
4/5	86%	Thank You For Smoking (2006)	" a rare breed of incisive, razor-sharp satire with charming life lessons for the family" — Peterborough This Week Posted Apr 10, 2006
4/5	73%	Nanny McPhee (2006)	" The saccharine production design and nasty pink-and-red buxom costumes are as fabulous as the full palette of hysterical performances." — Peterborough This Week Posted Jan 29, 2006
4/5	85%	Pride and Prejudice (2005)	" The dialogue is as smoking as the leads, both of whom are irresistible whether they're spouting articulate debate or tongue-tied with affection." — Peterborough This Week Posted Nov 28, 2005
4/5	44%	The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)	" the scariest courtroom drama I've ever seen." — Peterborough This Week Posted Nov 16, 2005
4/5	82%	Serenity (2005)	" Serenity pulls off more honestly thrilling action with a fraction of Lucas' average budget." — Peterborough This Week Posted Nov 16, 2005
4/5	96%	Sideways (2004)	" Sideways is non-mainstream pretentiousness done right" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jul 6, 2005
4/5	74%	War of the Worlds (2005)	" If you like heart attacks with your movie-nights out, then sign yourself up for the war." — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 27, 2005
4/5	69%	Hitch (2005)	" With it's share of Jerry Maguire moments mixed with real romance corn, Hitch is well worth the date. " — Peterborough This Week Posted Mar 6, 2005
4/5	60%	Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)	" Assault On Precinct 13 is the Tad Hamilton of 2005. What should be a forgettable genre release turns into a surprisingly watchable guilty pleasure" — Peterborough This Week Posted Mar 6, 2005
4/5	91%	Shaun of the Dead (2004)	" Proves that uplifting romance doesn't have to take a back-seat to gory disembowelments but rather they can happily co-exist. " — Peterborough This Week Posted Oct 6, 2004
4/5	83%	Mean Girls (2004)	" The girls may be mean, but I've got nothing nasty to say about this praise-worthy flick." — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 18, 2004
4/5	29%	The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)	" Vin Diesel is perfect as the marquee hero, breathing new life into the muscle-head antihero and looking great in leather chain-links or Necromonger plate-mail" — Peterborough This Week Posted Jun 18, 2004
4/5	75%	Dawn of the Dead (2004)	" With a chainsaw number that easily enters my top-five-kill-scenes-of-all-time-list, I say bring on the sequels" — Peterborough This Week Posted Mar 22, 2004
4/5	52%	Win A Date With Tad Hamilton! (2004)	" This breezy no-brainer is the perfect recipe for escapist fun at just the right time, smack in the middle of Oscar season" — Peterborough This Week Posted Feb 9, 2004
4/5	31%	Underworld (2003)	" Classy British actress Kate Beckinsale donned in tight black leather (and making Carrie Anne-Moss as appealing as your mom in spandex by comparison) is reason enough to journey into the depths of the Underworld" — Peterborough This Week Posted Sep 21, 2003
4/5	82%	Matchstick Men (2003)	" Cage, Rockwell and Lohman play us almost as well as they do their cinematic victims" — Peterborough This Week Posted Sep 15, 2003

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