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:…
Category: Fantasy
Movie #43: Bedtime Stories
It seems a bit harsh to criticize a sweet little kids movie like Bedtime Stories when all it’s trying to do is put a little artificial sweetness out in the world. Adam Sandler plays Skeeter, a (you guessed it) man-child, who was raised in a hotel by his father the owner (cameo by Jonathan Pryce)….
Movie #41: The Orphanage
Guillermo Del Toro is becoming one of my favourite directors (and there’s an opening now that Shyamalan has moved to my bad books). I loved Hellboy II and Pan’s Labyrinth. While his 2007 film The Orphanage has more in common with his earlier ghost story, The Devil’s Backbone, than his more recent works, there’s no…
Movie #40: Under The Mountain
I can’t believe that people on the internet found Under The Mountain imaginative and fresh. It was a lame fantasy/horror adventure for tweens is what it was. Generally, I go for those kinds of Harry Potter, Golden Compass, even Lemony Snickett kind of movies, but this one was beyond-blah. Essentially, after the death of their…
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…
Movie #20: Ghost Town
With a name like Ghost Town you probably wouldn’t expect the movie to be a romantic comedy. It doesn’t start out like one. Ricky Gervais stars as Dr. Pincus, a year-round grinch who avoids people as much as he can (which may be a challenge since he’s a dentist). After a near-death experience during surgery,…
Movie #15: The Wolfman
By watching The Wolfman right after Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I unwittingly treated myself to a double-bill of gothic horror remakes. In this case, it was the remake of a 1941 black and white movie called “The Wolf Man” (Apparently, after 70 years we’ve learned to live without the space). Though I never saw…
The Sorceror’s Apprentice – Movie Review
I really didn’t expect to enjoy this movie as much as I did. For starters, there’s the Nicolas Cage factor (for me he takes any movie down a notch), but he’s not bad when he’s just having fun (see also National Treasure). This time he plays Balthazar, an apprentice to the original Merlin, who’s been…
Movie #10: Daybreakers
Wow! Even in our current age of ‘fang-mania’ Daybreakers was actually a fresh take on the vampire movie — kind of a cross between True Blood and Children of Men. A plague of vampirism led to over 90% of the population becoming vampires in 10 years. That allows the filmmakers to come up with all…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 