Imagine you’re in a script development meeting at Perfect World Pictures and decide that you really like certain elements of Frozen, The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Maleficent, Time Bandits, Game of Thrones and other big fantasy productions and just toss all your ideas in the blender. You then send the entire script to the special effects house, along with a big check, and figure that with so many cultural touchpoints and a stellar…Read More
Review: The BoxTrolls
Children’s films are generally pretty darn benign, with little tension and few intense visual effects or scenes. Yeah, sure, the hero’s in peril from the monster or bad guy, but most children’s films take the Disney way out of 95% sweet, fun, light and 5% tension. Don’t want to scare the kiddies, after all. Except drama is all about tensions, and great storytelling is all about the protagonist being threatened and having to figure out…Read More
Review: Paul
Most modern comedies end up being so stupid that it’s painful to watch the actors embarrass themselves on the big screen. There are also comic actors who seem to have a string of box office successes even as their films are stupid and only barely entertaining. That’s why it’s a pleasure to see the terrific comic team of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost skewer the alien conspiracy genre in the consistently funny Paul. Graeme (Simon…Read More
Review: Pirate Radio
Any film that’s built around the fabulous music of the mid-1960’s starts out with one thing going for it: a great soundtrack. That Pirate Radio goes beyond that and offers up an entertaining and poignant story about the loss of innocence is what makes it a film well worth your time. There was so much rock and roll coming out of Britain in the 1960’s that it’s generally referred to as the “British Invasion”, and…Read More