This year, we are in for a pretty packed month of premieres, and there are a number of new shows that I’m looking forward to checking out as well. The CW is the first out of the gate, debuting some of their new series ahead of the other major networks. In particular, they brought back…
Category: Animation
Fifteen Flicks for Fall 2011
1. Dream House (9/30) Daniel Craig is my idol, so having him star in a creepy, twisty, Sixth Sense style thriller with his real-life wife Rachel Weisz — sign me up! 2. Real Steel (10/7) I’m not really a fan of boxing movies. They seem to follow a very predictable arc, and I just don’t…
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Movie Review
As much as I loved the first Kung Fu panda movie, I was always a little bothered by the fact that it wasn’t really a very Chinese story. The theme of finding one’s destiny and believing in yourself is more of a western idea. One other thing that irked me was that it made no…
Rio – Movie Review
As you might expect from an animated movie about blue macaw parrots set in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival, this is a very colourful movie. The opening musical sequence features all kinds of jungle birds in a fun, catchy, follies-style production number, but unfortunately, the rest of the movie is kind of underwhelming by comparison….
Rango – Movie Review
Rango is weird. He has surreal dreams, wears a Hawaiian shirt, puts on little dramas in his terrarium with a windup toy fish, and has a chorus of mariachi owls singing a lament of his demise. The animated movie from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is quirky to say the least. Nevertheless, the…
Oscar, Schmoscar 2011
When I first started my “Oscar Schmoscar” posts a few years ago, I was tired of the kinds of nominees that Oscar was coming up with. I lumped together some mini-reviews to let readers know what I thought of some of the nominated movies, but it was meant to be kind of dismissive. A few…
Tangled – Movie Review
Whenever Disney releases an animated movie, I wonder whether they’ve finally abandoned their classic formula. Last year’s The Princess and the Frog was probably their last foray into hand-drawn animation, but Tangled clearly suggests that they’re staying true to the kinds of movies that brought them success in the past. It’s definitely the successor of…
Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – Movie Review
Can they really produce an epic fantasy featuring owls? I was amazed that the answer is a resounding Yes. There were so many things that turned me off watching this movie (and I think a lot of people are in the same prejudicial boat). First, the title is ridiculously impossible to say without quizzical looks:…
Movie #32: Ponyo
One of the qualities you can find abundant in films by Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki is imagination, not just in story-telling, but visually as well. While Ponyo is clearly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”, it is still full of fresh wonder and enchantment. Sosuke is a 5-year-old boy living in a…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 