COOP COOPER is an independently syndicated film critic with a split personality. His “Southern Side” prints mainstream reviews that appear in various print publications across the mid-south. His “Dark Side” from Los Angeles befouls the site with reviews of horror and grindhouse flicks. Welcome to the site where COOP’s two halves (and his contributors) review and debate the latest film/DVD releases…

Coop’s most recent MICRO REVIEWS (via Twitter):

I got to conduct some great Q & A’s for some terrific films at the FEEL GOOD FILM FESTIVAL this past weekend. I met some truly gifted filmmakers and inspirational people.

I’d like to thank these special guests for affecting me the most: Cheryl Hines for her big intro, Shirley Jones for classing up the joint with her presence, Marty Ingles for reminding us what this festival is really about, Leeza Gibbons for singling me out with a nice compliment, writer/director Lexi Alexander for the lively discussion, producer/actor Googy Gress for his sincere enthusiasm, the League of S.T.E.A.M. for entertaining us all weekend and motivational speaker/actor Nick Vujicic for the sheer inspiration he gave to us all with his fantastic short film The Butterfly Circus (watch here!).

I’d also like to give big high-fives to all of the coordinators and volunteers for making the festival such a fun and engaging experience. I had a great time bonding with you all.

Finally a big congratulations to producer/actor Joe Russell and writer/actress Casey Strand from the short film “Strawberries” whose engagement I helped orchestrate during one of the more memorable Q & A’s.

I wish I had seen them all but of the ones I did see, here are the films that I felt were the best (in no particular order)…

While many moviegoers enjoyed the inspiring, true-life story of Michael Oher in “The Blind Side” over the past few weekends, many skipped the similarly-themed “Precious.” Perhaps they thought it would be a bit of a downer… and they would be right. “Precious” is a melancholy tale in which the main character seems doomed from beginning to end, but this compelling tearjerker delivers some of the…

I gave last year’s “Twilight” a fair pass because it pulled off some original and compelling storytelling despite the backlash by non-fans who found the whole phenomenon silly and far too juvenile for mainstream audiences. I went so far as to read the New Moon novel and while I found it uneven, soapy and poorly structured, I understood and enjoyed the way it made a cliché subject readable. I also respected the direction it was heading and was looking forward to seeing the film adaptation and the next sequel (“Eclipse”). That good will has expired because…

One very welcome side effect to blues music tourism in Clarksdale, Mississippi is that it attracts filmmakers to the area. Locals may have noticed an increasing amount of camera jockeys and boom mics wandering around downtown and the nearby tourist attractions. Get used to it, because if Tuesday night’s filming of “The Mud Dog Blues” feature promo trailer at Ground Zero Blues Club is any indication, Clarksdale may become one of the most filmed cities in the state.

Recycling is all the rage these days. In my neighborhood up in the Pacific Northwest, it’s almost a religion. In Michigan it’s actually mandatory – but at 10¢ a can, who’s complaining? Yep, taking a discarded resource and reshaping it into a usable commodity for a fraction of the cost of producing new materials is nothing new. In fact Hollywood has been doing just that for decades…

Michael Oher, former star offensive lineman for the Ole Miss football team, could become a household name across America on November 20th. Less than a month after he begins his first regular season game in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens, Oher’s life story will premiere in movie theaters across the country. For all of us Ole Miss fans who’ve been cheering for Oher since 2004, this film will mark yet another victorious event…

I read this book over a year ago and it still has an emotional resonance with me. It’s a grim and depressing story about a father and son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Sounds like the usual, gritty sci-fi fare but what you may not know is this work gained notoriety as a famed Oprah “Book of the Month” Club book. Shocking, I know. Written by Cormac McCarthy (of “No Country for Old Men” fame), this book is now considered the pinnacle of literature. Students are studying it at universities, critics are singing it’s genius and people who hate sci-fi are loving it. Now the trailer for the film version is upon us. What shocks me is…

“Seven Pounds” isn’t the same feel good holiday movie like Will Smith’s previous melodrama “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Instead, he and “Happyness” director Gabriele Muccino deliver a dark, brooding think-piece that will probably divide critics and audiences alike. “Seven Pounds” qualifies as memorable cinema, even if no one considers it a great film.
Smith stars as [...]

One of the most satisfying feel-good movies of 2007, “August Rush” flew under the radar of most viewers and got no love from the critics last Thanksgiving. I’m going to blame all of that on mass cynicism and poor marketing because there is no reason this “happy tear-jerker” shouldn’t have been a hit.
This modern fairy [...]

If it hadn’t actually happened, many would dismiss this story as unbelievable. “Changling” is a California tragedy that turned into an epic battle for justice during the “Roaring 1920’s.” Few people remember the story that gave the Los Angeles Police Department one of the worst black eyes in its history, but director Clint Eastwood and [...]

Perhaps “The Fall” is a film best enjoyed by photographers, painters, and most importantly surrealists. I think I may have some sort of favoritism towards a film like this just because it plays up these elements so very well.
When director Tarsem Singh’s first movie “The Cell” hit screens in 2000, I was first in line. [...]

“Synecdoche, NY” (apparently pronounced “si-nek-duk-ee”)is the directorial debut of Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman. This is the guy who assailed us with his genius by writing “Being John Malkovich,” then lapsed into a bunch of overrated independent films like “Adaptation” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” While his later efforts showed hints of genius, [...]

The creators of “Lightning Bug” seemed to have in mind a bittersweet, sentimental film designed to please the indie crowds at film festivals. They got the bitter part right.
The film centers around a sweet teenager named Green (Bret Harrison) who grows up in an Alabama trailer with this single mom and little brother. His not-too-bright [...]

Very rarely does a movie come along that invokes such a strong reaction in viewers. Good or bad, it’s very hard to ignore a film that even its detractors can’t stop talking about, even days after seeing it. “A.I.” is certainly one of these films. Director Steven Spielberg resurrects the late Stanley Kubrick’s long-awaited project [...]

Everyone remembers their childhood dogs and the impact they’ve had on their life. Perhaps one dog in particular sticks out in your mind… A special dog that was there for you in the toughest or best years of your life. That is what this screen adaptation of Willie Morris’ “My Dog Skip” conveys in a [...]