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…
Category: Movies
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…
The Iron Lady – Movie Review
Even though I was alive for most of her political career, I don’t know very much about Margaret Thatcher — the Iron Lady who is the subject of Meryl Streep’s latest Oscar-worthy impersonation. The movie version of Thatcher’s story starts oddly with Streep looking convincingly like a very senior Thatcher (probably somewhere around her current…
70 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies to Watch Out for in 2012
70 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies to Watch Out for in 2012 (from io9.com) Link out for a great summary of the scifi/fantasy/horror horizon for this new year. Reading through the list, I noticed four odd trends, and one great one: Fairytale reinterpretations – We already have TV’s Once Upon a Time and Grimm, now…
Nostalgia: Hugo & The Muppets – Movie Reviews
This week I watched two movies that unexpectedly shared a common theme. Hugo by director Martin Scorsese, is the story of a young orphan whose quest to repair a mechanical man leads to an adventure of discovery into the history of early cinema. The Muppets features a young man/muppet named Walter, whose quest is to…
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…
Immortals – Movie Review
As I’ve admitted before, I am one of those super-geeks who has been a fan of all kinds of mythology since I was in primary school — so I’ve been imagining how the heroes, gods, and monsters should look on the big screen for a while. If I were to choose a director, I think…
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…
Crazy, Stupid, Love – Movie Review
Why is this movie called Crazy, Stupid, Love? It wasn’t really so crazy for Steve Carrell’s character to want to reinvent himself after his wife (played by Julianne Moore) ended their marriage. It wasn’t stupid for Ryan Gosling’s stylish womanizer to fall in love with the ever-charming Emma Stone. And frankly, it wasn’t love when…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 