As FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER begins, there is no doubt about what the audience is in for. A planet dissolves before our very eyes, and with special effects that could most charitably be described as inferior. And so it goes for the rest of the flick. It soon becomes apparent that this… Read More »
BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!
Guy Maddin’s BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! is such a purely, viscerally visual experience that, like trying to describe a dream, much is lost when trying to put the language of the subconscious into words. And that is what Maddin is working with here. Boasting no spoken dialogue, eccentric black-and-white exposures, he bills this as a… Read More »
TRANSFORMERS
TRANSFORMERS is a good-natured sci-fi romp complete with super secret government agencies, uber-hackers that are barely old enough to vote, and rampaging robots from outer space. Those last would be the eponymous Transformers, sentient robots on a mission. What sets this effort apart from the pack is the way all of that furthers a much… Read More »
SUNSHINE
With SUNSHINE, Danny Boyle once again switches film genres with a masterly touch. Having explored gritty realism with TRAINSPOTTING, social satire with SHALLOW GRAVE, whimsical fantasy with MILLIONS, and apocalyptic horror with 28 DAYS LATER, he has moved on to science fiction, albeit science fiction that also functions as a white-knuckle thriller. For all the… Read More »
STARDUST
STARDUST, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, starts with that most wonderful of fantasy conceits, a magical world that exists side-by-side with the real world, but in which no one chooses to believe. Most aren’t even curious enough about it to notice that it’s there, and that in itself is curious, since the magical… Read More »
THE INVASION
The original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was the product of a particular time, place, and mentality. Those would be the 50s, the United States, and the paranoia rampant at the time over the Communist Menace. Or the 50s, the United States, and the suffocation of conformity. Either way, it was a potent message at… Read More »
FRED CLAUS
There is something wonderfully metaphorical in the image of a herd of 30 Santa Clauses chasing a contemporary Scrooge through the busy streets of snowy Chicago. The holiday season, whether we will or no, will force itself upon even those least willing to acknowledge it, much less celebrate it. The Scrooge in question has even… Read More »
SOUTHLAND TALES
There are bad movies. CATWOMAN was bad. GOOD LUCK CHUCK was bad. And then there are movies that are not just bad, they are events. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. ISHTAR. WATERWORLD. BATTLEFIELD EARTH. SWEPT AWAY (the remake), PEARL HARBOR. Many contend, but few achieve the apotheosis to that rarified circle, but SOUTHLAND TALES, with… Read More »
BEOWULF
The retelling of BEOWULF by Robert Zemeckis, Neil Gaiman, and Roger Avary stays true to the rip-snorting quality of it that has enthralled people for 1500 years or so, a few bored freshman English students at the mercy of teachers who couldn’t engage their enthusiasm notwithstanding. This computer-generated Beowulf is full of swagger, pride, and… Read More »
MIST, THE
Would that THE MIST, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, were just about things that go bump in the fog. It would be so much easier to reassure oneself that it’s just a story and then go out in the real world secure in the knowledge that nothing like that could ever happen except… Read More »
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