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 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 »
A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX
By the end of Rodney Ascher’s A GLITCH IN THE MATIX, you may well be questioning the definition of reality. That, of course, is part of his point. Bur far from a light-hearted romp about the fringe-ish theories that posit our living in a computer simulation, Ascher is interested in more than the Mandela Effect,… Read More »
ABOMINABLE
ABOMINABLE is a sweet, if unremarkable, movie. With a plot that offers little in the way of novelty and characters who are as familiar to fans of contemporary animated films aimed at kiddies as Harlequin was to fans of the commedia dell’arte, it does boast some fine animation and a mythical creature that is undeniably… 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 »
2017 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival — Shira Dubrovner Interview
Shira Dubrovner left behind a successful career in the film business to return to Mammoth Lakes and, eventually, to found the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, now in its third year (May 24-28) It was one of the things I asked her about when we spoke on May 18, 2017, but it wasn’t the first. That… Read More »
LONG WAY NORTH
LONG WAY NORTH uses deceptively simple animation to tell an epic adventure. At its center is Sasha (Christa Théret), a spirited and determined 15-year-old set on restoring her family’s honor, and the legacy her of her beloved grandfather, Oloukine (Féodor Atkine) an arctic explorer gone missing on his last expedition. It would be a monumental undertaking… Read More »
FINDING DORY
FINDING DORY, the eminently worthy sequel to 2003’s FINDING NEMO, is essentially one long chase. In this it shares much with last year’s blockbuster MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, including the sense that nothing is impossible, including testing the laws of physics to their limits, and a strong message of feminine empowerment, as exemplified by that… Read More »
HONEYGLUE with James Bird, Anya Remizova, and Adriana Mather
When I spoke with James Bird, Adriana Mather, and Anya Remizova on May 25, 2016, the first thing I wanted to know about was the clichés that they wanted to avoid in this story of young lovers facing their own mortality. It was only natural that we would discuss the spiritual influences that inspired Bird,… Read More »
BLING
BLING is a perfectly sweet, perfectly gentle, and perfectly harmless bit of fluffy animated comedy that will delight kids whose ages fall in the single digits. True love is the theme, and the difficulties of overcoming both self-doubt and Oscar (Jason Kravitz), an evil supervillain, provide the obstacles as mechanical whiz-kid Sam (Taylor Kitsch) spends… Read More »