So many movies, even good ones, feel like they were designed in a committee. Even when there is real talent and imagination involved, you can usually feel the frowning producer or studio exec looking over the filmmakers’ shoulders, making sure they stick to the formula and don’t do anything risky. The effect is less … Continue reading Reviews: Deadpool
Reviews
Reviews: Zootopia
I’ll admit, I have more mixed feelings about Zootopia than I’ve had for any other of the recent Disney animated features. The plot is that in a world populated by anthropomorphized mammals, young bunny Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) dreams of being a police officer, but faces an uphill battle due to the fact that, well, … Continue reading Reviews: Zootopia
Mister Ed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GAbc5uQXJo A few days ago, out of curiosity, I looked up the old sitcom Mister Ed, expecting a little cheesy fun at best. To my surprise, I found myself laughing out loud time and again. It’s not brilliant by any means; in fact, it’s frequently pretty stupid, but it’s sweet and often hilarious. In case … Continue reading Mister Ed
Reviews: Star Wars the Force Awakens
The first thing that struck me as The Force Awakens began was how very different it was from the execrable prequel trilogy. Gone are the interminable politics, the bland, uninteresting storylines, the skin-peelingly bad dialogue, and the over-complicated, over-long plots. Back to straightforward good vs. evil space adventure. The opening crawl lays out what we … Continue reading Reviews: Star Wars the Force Awakens
Reviews: Jurassic World
There’s a definite sense of self-awareness to Jurassic World. Here’s a movie that knows exactly what it is and where it fits into the grand scheme of things. It knows its audience and for the most part knows what its audience wants. It feels like a film made by fans for fans. Which, when you … Continue reading Reviews: Jurassic World
Review: Jurassic Park III
So, The Lost World was a bad movie and Steven Spielberg wisely abandoned the franchise after that. However, about four years later and after a lot of wrangling, Joe Johnston stepped in and delivered Jurassic Park III. This is kind of an odd film. There’s definitely a sense of increased cheapness about it; like the … Continue reading Review: Jurassic Park III
Review: The Lost World: Jurassic Park
You know something has gone horribly wrong with your action-adventure movie when you’re left thinking how much better it would have been if they had just cut out the ‘heroes’ entirely and made the entire movie about the ‘villains.’ The story: four years after the events of Jurassic Park we find Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) … Continue reading Review: The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Reviews: Jurassic Park
Note: This is a review I wrote a couple years back for the 3D rerelease of Jurassic Park. With Jurassic World coming out this week, I thought I'd present my reviews of the previous three films over the next few days. Enjoy! As a life-long dinosaur nut, I’ve of course seen Jurassic Park more times than I can … Continue reading Reviews: Jurassic Park
Reviews: Cinderella
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a collection of wonderful tales, stories of magic and courage and beauty and true love. Generation after generation they delighted, enriched, and inspired all who read them. They had a timeless quality about them so that, no matter how many times you heard … Continue reading Reviews: Cinderella
Serpent's Den 