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 »
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA is a relentlessly obvious and overplayed exercise in draining the last dregs from a moribund franchise. Let me put it this way. Adam Sandler, not known for discriminating taste in projects, took a pass on this material that continues the saga of Drac, the vampiric proprietor of the titular establishment that caters… Read More »
THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2
There are many words that spring to mind when viewing THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2, and few of them are laudatory. The twisted humor of Charles Addams’ original cartoon, or of the cult-classic of the 60s television series, or of the previous incarnation of the franchise are little in evidence in this dreary exercise in, of… Read More »
LUCA
With LUCA, Disney/Pixar takes us back under the sea with a film that makes no secret about wanting to tug at our heartstrings. Using sentiment and slapstick, it explores not only bullying, childhood bonding, and the importance of expanding one’s horizons, but also that delicate struggle between safeguarding one’s children, and letting them find their… Read More »
DREAM HORSE
DREAM HORSE is the heartwarming and uplifting film that is sets out to be. Unpretentious as the working class folks that this based-on-actual-events story celebrates, it tells the classic underdog story of the race horse that evokes sneers from professionals and aristocrats before he puts them all in their places. If it sounds formulaic, it… Read More »
FINDING YOU
FINDING YOU is the quintessence of YA fiction brought to cinematic life. In it, our ordinary, yet winsome heroine, Finley Sinclair (Rose Reid) is pursued by a famous movie star, is the only hope of settling a decades-long family feud, and puts all the snooty girls in her orbit in their respective places. All while… Read More »
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN
There has always been an archly hallucinogenic element to Spongebob Squarepants. I don’t mean the conceit of a sentient aggregate life form living in a pineapple under the sea. No, Spongebob has used it to tackle the existential from time to time while also being deliciously silly and being unapologetically full of heart. One need… Read More »
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