I, along with a large percentage of the movie-going public, saw Avatar over the weekend. In short, it is a flawed, problematic movie, and James Cameron has been understandably defensive about those flaws. Nevertheless, go see it. See it on a big screen, so you don’t miss any details. In many ways, it’s an astounding [...]
Avatar
December 21st, 2009 by Damon Kaswell · No Comments
Moon
September 7th, 2009 by Loreen Heneghan · 3 Comments
“Moon,” an independent film directed by Duncan Jones, is a refreshing piece of science fiction. This is not what I’m used to seeing in the theaters. Hollywood science fiction is usually just a fantastical kind of action movie, roaring across the screen in a blaze of guns, heroes, monsters, exploding chase scenes and latex-wrapped boobs.
As [...]
District 9
August 22nd, 2009 by Sam Hutchison · 4 Comments
“District 9″ is not a movie about aliens. You might be forgiven for thinking otherwise from the previews; there’s certainly no shortage of the traditional accouterments of a space alien movie there. But despite the spaceships and robots and laser guns (and yes, despite the aliens), this movie isn’t about aliens.
This is a movie about [...]
Ponyo
August 22nd, 2009 by Lauren Hutchison · No Comments
Studio Ghibli films have a long tradition of eschewing the typical. These are not films made for endless belly-laughs. These are not films made to show off the latest in CGI technology. These are films that rely on the surreal and the fantastic to entertain. These are films where children are the main characters, but [...]
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
May 30th, 2009 by Karen · No Comments
With robots and aliens dominating Summer 2009’s film offerings for the young and 13-year-old boys at heart, it’s refreshing to return to the relatively innocent world of history and magic in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”.
Viewers older than 13 might find that “history” here is similar to that in “Time Bandits” (1981) [...]
Terminator Salvation
May 24th, 2009 by Lauren Hutchison · 3 Comments
Like the indestructible constructs it features, Terminator seems to be a franchise that just won’t die. The Governator appears only as a cameo in “Terminator Salvation”, which systematically destroys at least half the reason for the series’ existence. “Salvation” still serves as a passable action movie, but the horrendous script and too-serious tone render the [...]
Star Trek
May 13th, 2009 by Karen · No Comments
They boldly go, but not where they haven’t been before.
Expectations for a new Star Trek film have not been this high since the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, the first since the TV series’ cancellation a decade earlier. That film certainly laid bare Gene Roddenberry’s ambitions, since he was no longer [...]
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Drinking Game
May 4th, 2009 by Lauren Hutchison · 2 Comments
Instead of doing a traditional review of Wolverine, I thought I’d highlight my feelings for this piece of work by writing a drinking game.
TAKE 1 DRINK:
- Each time claws or swords emerge from someone’s skin in slow motion
- Each time a new mutant is introduced
- Each time an exotic locale is revealed in an an [...]
City Without End by Kay Kenyon
March 18th, 2009 by Sam Hutchison · No Comments
Kay Kenyon is in a hurry, and it shows. Her first book, Bright the Sky, was like reading a thousand-year-old Persian rug. She created an amazing artificial world, the Entire, crafted by the mysterious alien Tarig and kept habitable only through the profligate expenditure of colossal amounts of energy. All her characters are richly developed, [...]
Watchmen
March 7th, 2009 by Lauren Hutchison · 1 Comment
Creating a movie from a cultural icon is tricky business. Do you please the fans, or do you create a good movie? The two aren’t mutually exclusive, but it’s a perilous tightrope. I’m not familiar with the Watchmen comics, and coming out of the movie, I felt like someone’s guest at a work party: politely [...]
