The one thing you can say about WICKED: FOR GOOD without fear of contradiction is that there is a lot of it. Not just the running time, which feels like so much more than 138 minutes, but in the Rococo exuberance of the production design. So much production design. It goes beyond mere attention to… Read More »
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
It was, perhaps, inevitable that there would one day be a big-screen adaptation of the wildly popular computer game, Minecraft. That being the case, we could have done far worse than A MINECRAFT MOVIE, a live-action extravaganza that will thrill the fans (and the kiddies) but leave the rest of us longing for more Jennifer… Read More »
WICKED
There is nothing quite so thrilling as a revisionist theory of a well-known story when it works, and no better example of that than WICKED. First a book, then a theatrical musical, it has now made its way to the silver screen giving us The Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the… Read More »
DESPICABLE ME 4
Again let us praise the giddy delight that the minions provide. Sure, they have trouble carrying their own films, but as the dada-esque relief, particularly of a middling film, they are a tonic for the soul that gives us the strength to hang on until the final credits, where they provide some of the best… Read More »
IF
Click here for the flashback interview with John Krasinski for THE HOLLARS. John Krasinski’s great strength as a filmmaker is that he can capture the full spectrum of emotions, the fleeting bit of comfort in remembering a loved one who has died while the grief is still raw, or the poignant joy of remembering… Read More »
WONKA
It would have been more wrong than I can enumerate not to reference 1971’s WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY in its prequel, WONKA. Hence the purple cutaway coat, the top hat, and not just the only possible Oompa-Loompa song, but also the signature wistfulness of “Pure Imagination” by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newly. Screenwriters… Read More »
HOCUS POCUS 2
If you were even mildly enchanted, amused, chilled, or any combination of those three, by the original HOCUS POCUS, I beg you to avoid the sequel at all costs. It is a travesty of a flick, and an insult to that darkly whimsical tale of 29 years ago. To remind you, it introduced us to… Read More »
PINOCCHIO
Just because you >can< render an animated classic into a live-action CGI extravaganza doesn’t mean that you should. Case in point, PINOCCHIO. It’s not an awful film but bringing the animated characters into the real world doesn’t add anything to the story of a little wooden puppet who dreams of being a real boy. Rather,… Read More »
FIRE OF LOVE
Dosa infuses her story with a dash of the mythic, honoring her subjects who came to see volcanoes in mythic terms despite being rigorous scientists. There is more here than can be explained in merely factual terms.
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU
There is a great deal of mileage to be had with characters as intrinsically adorable the Minions. And MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU takes it as far as it can go with a script that wobbles as uncertainly as Otto, the most loyal and least competent of little yellow creatures, does on the steep streets… Read More »
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