With 2009’s “Coraline” and now “ParaNorman,” the artists at LAIKA, Inc. have asserted themselves as some of the best minds in contemporary animation. While not as cerebral as Pixar’s best works, LAIKA’s two features achieve the same great feat that the productions of that preeminent studio are known for: transcending the “family film” mold by […]
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It’s fitting that Len Wiseman’s “Total Recall” remake features a gigantic robot army, given that his films have always demonstrated the bare minimum level of interest in actual people. That’s why Wiseman was a particularly poor choice for adapting Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 masterpiece about a man who discovers that his memories are false and he’s
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It’s hard to deny that an insidiousness permeates Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, and not just because of the real life unpleasantness that has transpired offscreen. “The Dark Knight Rises” is almost unbearably grim, a tangle of frayed nerves and cultural angst. The fiery and destructive imagery of the ad campaign symbolizes Batman’s rebirth, but could
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This is the Oliver Stone I like. In recent years, the famously intense, quasi-loony auteur has produced one oddity after another, from a big budget catastrophe (“Alexander”) to a saintly solemn portrayal of 9/11 responders (“World Trade Center”) to a schizophrenic hit-piece on President 43 (“W.”). None of them reached the thematic highs of “Platoon,”
When doing press for comic book movies, directors and actors almost always claim that they counted themselves as diehard fans of the source material long before they signed on to the lucrative task of adapting it for the screen. While this is likely more often than not a lie, Mark Webb was clearly telling the
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“Ted” is the first attempt at live-action filmmaking from Seth MacFarlane, creator of the adult-oriented cartoons “Family Guy” and “American Dad,” and it proves that his efforts should remain relegated to the boob-tube and off the silver-screen. Like MacFarlane’s television shows, “Ted” excels at making irreverent cultural references and observations, which fly fast and furious
Despite never receiving proper recognition from the critical elite, Tyler Perry’s infamous character Madea, the boisterous old lady that the filmmaker himself plays in drag, has had her share of classic comedy moments. She took a chainsaw to a couch in “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” coached her niece on how to throw hot
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“Magic Mike” is certain to disappoint a lot of people. Anyone familiar with Steven Soderbergh knew that his latest work certainly couldn’t be the sexy, slick male stripper fantasy that Warner Bros’ marketing campaign has made it out to be. Those expecting a semi-erotic, amusing romp likely won’t leave satisfied by the 10 minutes or
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With “Brave,” Pixar has declared that audiences and critics can stop raving about how inventive and original their latest films are, and can begin classifying them as simple kids’ fare instead. The studio behind heartfelt, gorgeous animated treasures such as “Toy Story,” “WALL-E,” and “Up” demonstrates an astonishing lack of creative energy with their latest
Few Hollywood filmmakers have proven themselves to be as tone-deaf as Adam Shankman has during his recent foray into musicals. That Shankman has failed so miserably in the genre is surprising, given his background as a choreographer. But few films–let alone upbeat musicals– are as joyless and utterly lacking an understanding of cinematic kinetics as
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