Just when you think that animated holiday films had run out of ideas, turning childhood imaginary icons like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost into magical super-heroes is kind of a surprisingly imaginative twist. That’s not to say that Rise of the Guardians doesn’t have its share of…
Category: Animation
Fall TV 2012: Week Two – Returning Comedy
The Big Bang Theory The gang kicked off the season with Howard (Simon Helburg) still in space (Yay, he’s my least favourite of the bunch) and the others on dates – yes, even Sheldon (Jim Parsons). I’m not sure that I am really enjoying how much of an unfeeling automaton they are making Sheldon into…
Movie #38: Shrek Forever After
I’m not quite sure why I watched this movie. I was a big fan of the original Shrek; I liked how it upended fairy tale conventions and made a monster into a hero. The satirical, contemporary jokes played really well in a storybook context. However, Shrek Forever After comes three whole movies later, after the…
15 Flicks for Fall 2012
As summer is more than half over, it’s time to start thinking about movies for the fall. Sadly, I didn’t end up watching all of last year’s list (at least not in the theatres). Nevertheless, here’s what I’m looking forward to (in vaguely chronological order) for Fall 2012: 1. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 2…
Brave – Movie Review
It’s great to see that (7 years after the two studios joined) Brave brings together the computer-generated artistry of Pixar with the fairytale storytelling of Disney. While it’s the first Pixar movie with a strong female lead, Disney has been producing “princess” tales for years. The story of young Merida, princess to the Scottish kingdom…
The Secret World of Arrietty – Movie Review
Studio Ghibli (like its American cousin/rival, Pixar Studios) has such a flawless reputation for producing beautiful, magical, creative, and original masterpieces of feature animation that audiences are predisposed to liking any new movie that they produce. The Secret World of Arrietty is the latest from these Japanese animation masters and for me, while it is…
Oscar Schmoscar 2012
Last year’s nominees had a few pleasant surprises that I would have regretted missing out on if not for the noms. This year, nothing really compelled me and it’s unfortunate that I didn’t find the Best Picture nominees to be much of a checklist for exploration. Even the critics don’t love them all, since Hugo…
Happy Feet Two – Movie Review
How can a movie that looks so much like the original, wonderful tale of singing and dancing animated penguins become such an awful sequel? The animation in Happy Feet 2 is great, with amazing Antarctic scenery, realistic-looking animals like seals, birds, and of course penguins who not only look like penguins but can dance and…
Saturday Mornings, Now On Fridays
Remember those lazy Saturdays when we’d get up and run down to the family room, turn on the tv to catch the adventure of Thundarr the Barbarian, Spider-man and his Amazing Friends, Blue Falcon and Dyno-mutt, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, or Space Ghost? At its height we enjoyed the Justice League in super-powered…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 