Ever since the little quibble with Pixar, Disney has been saddled with filling in the gaps between the aforementioned studio’s releases. With Pixar considered the zenith of computer-animated features, and for good reason, Disney’s non-Pixar releases are almost destined to disappoint; look no further than 2005’s Chicken Little. Meet the… Continue reading
Movies like Because I Said So make even the most hardened film critics question what they are doing with their lives. I had that thought roll through my head at least a half dozen times as I witnessed this disaster. Not since Domino have I out-and-out detested a film this… Continue reading
2006 was really the year that moviegoers became more discerning about their animation. With the genre as prevalent as ever, the days of the “do no wrong” animated film are officially over. Look no further than Happily N’Ever After as Exhibit A in the case for an official studio back… Continue reading
Ah, January: the twinge of cold in the air, football playoffs, snow days for the kids, and hands down the worst month of the year for movies. The annual dumping ground for all studios, January is traditionally a month of low returns and how-is-that-movie-number-one weekends. Fitting right in is Code… Continue reading
It seems like virtually every animated film these days has an agenda. Is it because the genre has crossed over so successfully to adults? Or do kids really care about socio-economic issues these days at a young age? The trailers would lead one to believe that Happy Feet is just… Continue reading
Aardman Animations made one of last year’s finest films in Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Constructed with glorious stop-motion animation and a strong sense of dry wit, the film blindsided me with its ingenuity and spirit. Tragically, Aardman’s production warehouse burned to the ground shortly after the… Continue reading
Borat, subtitled Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, arrives with more buildup and controversy than most comedies these days. Between Entertainment Weekly questioning whether it is the funniest movie ever made to Kazakhstani officials denouncing the entire project, the PR, both good and bad, couldn’t… Continue reading
It is at this time that I feel like borrowing and reworking a phrase coined by the one and only Roger Ebert: “I didn’t feel like a viewer during Running with Scissors. I felt like an eyewitness at a disaster.” Here is a film so loathsome, so pointless, and so… Continue reading
Not since The Break-Up has a film been so mis-marketed. One would assume, after viewing the trailers and TV spots, that Man of the Year is an edgy political satire examining just what would happen if a late night comedian got elected President of the United States. One would be… Continue reading
You ever notice how some comedies are just too nice for their own good? School for Scoundrels is such a specimen; a film that is, on the surface, about the age-old battle of two men competing for the affection of one woman. Under the surface, however, there is a darker… Continue reading