The Illusionist isn’t just the long-awaited second feature from Sylvain Chomet, the French animator who made 2003′s charmingly grotesque, hauntingly comic Triplets of Belleville. It’s also, in a sense, a new film from the great mime artist turned genius director Jacques Tati (Playtime, Mon Oncle), who died in 1982. Adapted from a semi-autobiographical script Tati [...]
Read More animation, blu-ray, comedy, drama, DVD, Jacques Tati, PG-, Sylvain Chomet, The Illusionist, willIf I were Jonathan Swift, I’d be turning over in my grave at how my classic novel about a man encountering a race of people less than six inches tall was turned into a somewhat crude and simple-minded comedy starring Jack Black and featuring giant robots and giant wedgies.
Read More adventure, Amanda Peet, blu-ray, Chris O'Dowd, comedy, David, DVD, Emily Blunt, Fantasy, Gulliver's Travels, Jack Black, Jason Segel, PG-, Rob LettermanI was about 10 years old when the original Tron hit theaters in 1982, so I have a certain fondness for it. It just looked so cool, with the Light Cycle races and giant ships, rendered via very early computer graphics, and the actors clad in glowing costumes with glowing Frisbees strapped to their backs. [...]
Read More action, adventure, blu-ray, Bruce Boxleitner, David, DVD, Garrett Hedlund, jeff bridges, Joseph Kosinski, Michael Sheen, PG-, Sci-Fi, Tron: LegacyDisney apparently wanted to go back to its roots with its 50th animated feature, and so, a la Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, took yet another dark children’s story about a girl in trouble and turned it into Tangled, a sprightly and thoroughly entertaining family flick full of beautiful animation and bouncy musical numbers.
Read More animation, blu-ray, comedy, David, Disney, DVD, family, Mandy Moore, PG-, Rapunzel, Tangled, Zachary LeviEveryone has already told you to see Waiting for Superman. I’m not going to be any different. It was a heartfelt and moving foray into the crumbling American education system. Just because I say see it, don’t think I’m endorsing it as a “good” documentary.
Read More blu-ray, documentary, DVD, Noah, PG-, Waiting for SupermanSteve Carell makes for a very funny sort-of-bad-guy in Despicable Me, a CGI ‘toon with an amusing premise that kids will find irresistible but as a whole isn’t half as funny as it should, or could, have been.
Read More animation, blu-ray, comedy, David, Despicable Me, DVD, family, Jason Segel, PG-, Russell Brand, Steve CarellI love and respect Emma Thompson, and if you do as well, you will approach the Nanny McPhee franchise in the proper spirit. Emma Thompson produces and stars in the original and the sequel as the enigmatic, magical Nanny McPhee (“little ‘c’, big ‘P’”), a nanny in the tradition of Mary Poppins who appears to [...]
Read More comedy, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor, family, Fantasy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maggie Smith, Nanny McPhee Returns, PG-, Ralph Fiennes, RobinOnce upon a time there was an animated ogre named Shrek. He was in a movie that made a lot of money, so its studio said, what the heck? There are enough ideas for a few more rounds. We’ll make some sequels and try not to run the idea into the ground. They came close, [...]
Read More adventure, animation, comedy, David, DVD, Eddie Murphy, PG-, Shrek, Shrek Forever AfterA woman meeting her husband in Cairo for their first trip to Egypt arrives to find he’s been delayed. Understandable, given that the Middle East is always in flux and he’s a UN official working in Gaza. A former colleague of her husband is at the airport to meet her and help her get settled. [...]
Read More Alexander Siddig, Cairo Time, drama, DVD, Patricia Clarkson, PG-, romance, Ruba Nadda, Umm KulthumHaving apparently run out of theme park rides to turn into mediocre movies, Disney, it seems, has decided to take scenes from its own films–in this case the Mickey Mouse portion of Fantasia–and turn them into loud, overblown star vehicles for Nicolas Cage and his growing collection of wigs.
Read More action, adventure, Alfred Molina, blu-ray, comedy, David, DVD, Jay Baruchel, Jerry Bruckheimer, John Turteltaub, Nicolas Cage, PG-, Teresa Palmer, Trevor Rabin