Having starred in a deliciously odd self-portrait by and of Charlie Kaufman, ADAPTATION, Nicolas Cage has waited two decades to take the surreal meta-plunge again and waiting for just the right script has paid off for him and for us. In THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT, he plays a fictionalized version of himself, hamstrung… Read More »
THE CROODS: A NEW AGE
The animation in THE CROODS: A NEW AGE is just as lovely as it was in the original. As we find our cave family going through some changes, though, the story, while lively, has a distinctly mid-century sit-com vibe, and not just because that Partridge Family anthem, “I Think I Love You”, is on repeat… Read More »
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
Just when you thought the Spiderman franchise might have finally run its course of endless reboots comes SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, a film that that reinvigorates both animation and the super-hero origin story. Told in a wry, raucous style, it dares to explore complicated themes of family ties and personal responsibility while slyly poking fun… Read More »
MOM AND DAD
The refrain of “I’ll kill you” or “My mom (dad) is gonna kill me” are a familiar part contemporary familiar discourse in even the most loving of homes. Writer/director Brian Taylor has taken that commonplace and spun a tale that is both wickedly twisted and unnervingly satisfying. The exactly proportions of those two feelings may… Read More »
BANGKOK DANGEROUS
In 1999, The Pang Brothers made film called BANGKOK DANGEROUS. People liked it. It added luster to the Brothers’ reputation. They moved on to make other action flicks in Asia with great success and other kinds of flicks in America with less success. At some point the Brothers looked at one another, and this is… Read More »
ASTRO BOY
ASTRO BOY suffers a surfeit of sentiment. Sweet, sappy, and exhibiting only the briefest waftings of whimsy, the chipper boy-bot icon of Japanese manga and cheesy television fame is brought to animated life in a script that clips along briskly enough to keep kids engaged, but will leave adults twiddling their thumbs while being disappointed… Read More »
KICK ASS
Forget subtexts about the influence of media violence on young and impressionable minds. Forget the other subtext about effect of family dynamics in forming the characters of those equally young and impressionable minds. Though both are present in KICK ASS, based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr., and employed as… Read More »
SEASON OF THE WITCH
SEASON OF THE WITCH is not a painfully bad film. Its not a particularly good one, either. Rather, it falls into that middling ground of an effort that provokes in the audience the collective sigh of Eh, Ive seen worse. And they have. GULLIVERS TRAVELS springs to mind, and would that it would spring out… Read More »
GHOST RIDER — SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE
There comes a moment when adapting a comic book for the screen when all those involved have to make a choice. Should there be an attempt to make a preposterous premise reasonable, or should one throw verisimilitude to the winds and just have a good time making a cheesy movie? The makers of GHOST RIDER:… 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 »