It is a bold move to revisit a classic film, even if it is to make a prequel to it. Particularly when the studio involved, Disney, had tried, and failed, once before to produce the WIZARD OF OZ. That was in the early part of the last century, before MGM got hold of it in… Read More »
THE CROODS
On one level, THE CROODS is a funny, heartwarming, and imaginative look at life in the original dark ages, those of prehistoric humankind crouching in their caves surviving, barely, in a state of perpetual fear of the dark. And it would be perfectly fine to enjoy this animated film from Dreamworks in just that way.… Read More »
STAR TREK –INTO DARKNESS
The best speculative fiction is rooted firmly in reality. Though set in faraway lands, planets or time, it speaks, nonetheless, directly to the issues and emotions of its audience. Smart writers know that, and this is why the continuing re-boot of the Star Trek franchise is so wildly successful. Set in an alternate timeline from… Read More »
AFTER EARTH
AFTER EARTH is a solemn, self-congratulatory flick showing all the symptoms of a vanity piece run amok. Based on a story devised by star Will Smith as a vehicle to launch 14-year-old son Jaden as an action star, it shows little internal logic while never giving the audience a reason to care about anything that… Read More »
PACIFIC RIM
PACIFIC RIM is a blockbuster of a curiosity. A film top-heavy with plot, but one that plods along at a oddly pedestrian pace as it charts the end of the world as we know it. It is also oddly populated with leads that are wafer-thin characters, and supporting players that, while not necessarily deep, are… Read More »
PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEA OF MONSTERS
PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEA OF MONSTERS is an improvement on its predecessor, PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF, a film that had much potential as the kick-start of a franchise, but was not, alas, all it could have been. What it had going for it, though, and this one has, too, is that the… Read More »
ELYSIUM
Neill Blomkamp, he of DISTRICT 9 fame, should not be expected to make a straight-up thriller without also making it a damning critique of societys ills. Nor would we want him to. His is an eye that can pick out the details that illuminate the whole without going all dialectic on us. Instead, he uses… Read More »
THE WORLD’S END
The Cornetto Trilogy comes to a superb conclusion with THE WORLDS END. Director Edgar Wright again teams with the regular cast of co-writer Simon Pegg as the anti-hero, and Nick Frost as the humorless corporate lawyer, along with newcomers Eddie Marsan as the grinning bunny rabbit of a car salesman, Paddy Considine as the enterperneur… Read More »
THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES
And so the search for a blockbuster of a film franchise appealing to the lucrative tween market continues. Alas, MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES is too much of a mess to warrant a sequel, even though the young-adult novels on which they are and would be based are bona fide hits with their target audience,… Read More »
RIDDICK
Vin Diesel has carved a very specific niche for himself in filmdom as the anti-hero of the better (lower case) pulp fiction being produced for cinematic consumption. Resourceful, cunning, and above all more than merely human as he races very fast cars in the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise, or as he pummels entire planets into… Read More »
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