Once again college kids with video cameras march into the dark piney woods in search of something better left undisturbed. Unlike previous attempts to capture the lightning in a bottle that was the original BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, attempts that went down in flames, writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard have taken the found-footage format… Read More »
Chris Butler & Sam Fell Bring PARANORMAN to Life
When I spoke with Chris Butler and Sam Fell on July 27, 2012, the conversation was a wonderful mix of whimsy and erudition as they explained the finer points of bringing a stop-motion film to life. The two shared the directing duties on PARANORMAN, working from a script by Butler. What I was most interested in,… Read More »
THE LAST WITCH HUNTER
THE LAST WITCH HUNTER is a long slog. There are few genuine scares. There are few remarkable special effects. There is, instead, a pervasive and persistent lassitude to this tale of an immortal witch hunter, Kaulder (Vin Diesel), and the complicated relationship he has tracking down the eponymous practitioners of magic. Kaulder is very good… Read More »
CHAC: THE RAIN GOD
Long unavailable to its legion of fans, CHAC THE RAIN GOD, made by Rolando Klein and released 1975, has been issued in a superb DVD edition by Milestone. It’s about time. This tale of pilgrimage, ritual and sacrifice in a Maya village in the Mexican wilderness has a magic and a wonder that few films achieve. The story… Read More »
PARANORMAN
Laika Studios latest animated film, PARANORMAN, is a story with heart, soul, and a killer funny bone. The humor ranges from the broad to the subtle, and even ventures into that most dangerous of territories, the poignant, and it does so with a sure hand, backed up with an astounding feat of animation. Norman (Kodi… Read More »