Archive for the ‘movies’ category

Revisionist Fairy Tales…

January 25, 2013

Hansel and Gretel– – Witches could use a good spin doctor to handle their bad PR problem; they’re often portrayed as ugly and evil.  Hollywood has also put forth a number of doctored and rehashed variations lately on classic fairy tales, with Red Riding Hood one of the most common.  In this vein, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters will be coming your way soon, conceived as an action fantasy sequel to the tale of two kids who stumble into a candy-covered witch house in the woods where they are taken prisoner and almost wind up consumed.

Well, in the 3D Witch Hunters, it’s now 15 years later, and the grown-up Hansel and Gretel are doing the Van Helsing thing on witches, who they shoot, stab, burn, and behead; at one point, a Gatling gun will be turned on them…there are serious anger issues here!  Gretel is limber, and looks good in leather.  At least it’s not intended to be taken seriously, and Witch Hunters mixes horror with hilarity.  There will be ancient Bavarian milk bottles bearing pictures of missing witch-kidnapped children, for example.  There will also be a troll named Edward…

I guess we’ll see what happens during the Feast of the Blood Moon in this Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film produced by Will Ferrell and associates, and starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the dynamic duo…

 

 

 

 

Not Your Typical Easter Bunny…

November 21, 2012

– – In the upcoming movie,  Rise of the Guardians, furry interests are well represented by the character of E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny on steroids and with an attitude.  Voiced by none less than Hugh Jackman (“Wolverine“), this bunny is calm and friendly to kids, but features an Australian accent, deploys egg bombs, and throws a mean boomerang!   The film is based on William Joyce’s bestselling Guardians of Childhood book series.

Part chocolatier, part ninja, and part zen master, Bunnymund teams with other childhood heroes such as Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), Jack Frost (Chris Pine), and the Sandman to protect children all over the world on Christmas from an evil spirit known as Pitch Black (Jude Law). 

While cheesy at times and perhaps evocative of X-Men, this CG animated picture from Dreamworks should be fun and worth seeing for Jackman’s short-tempered, alpha version of the Easter Bunny…just don’t call him a kangaroo!

Two Paws Up for “Life of Pi!”

October 29, 2012

– – Described as “visually stunning” and “the next Avatar,” an upcoming November 21st movie Life of Pi is a 3D magical adventure tale based on the best-selling 2001 novel by Yann Martel which centers on Pi Patel, the 16-year-old precocious son of a zoo keeper who has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal psychology and behavior.  The Indian teenager is the only human to survive the sinking of a freighter, and finds himself on a lifeboat with several animals that include an orangutan, a hyena, a wounded zebra, and a Bengal tiger.  While on the surface a tale of survival, Life of Pi holds spiritual dimensions as well, although there is no preaching going on here, and more questions are raised about faith and belief than answered.  Pi himself practices not only his native Hinduism but also Christianity and Islam; paralleling the story of the young man and the tiger, this is a zen-like tale about coexistence, tolerance, and the reconciliation of opposites…something the world could use more of!

As one might suspect, the tiger by the name of Richard Parker dispatches all of the other life forms except for Pi, whose knowledge, fear, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger for 227 days lost at sea.  The film mixes real tigers with computer-generated effects almost seamlessly.  Through all of this, the tiger remains feral; this is not a Disneyesque movie about the “power of friendship.”  Upon reaching the Mexican coast, the tiger returns to the wild, never to be seen again.   Japaneses investigators don’t believe the tale of Pi’s survival, and compel him to tell another one; which will you believe?

Directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Life of Pi is one of the year’s most beautiful, original, and adventurous pictures that can be appreciated on a variety of levels, and is likely to be an Oscar contender…

“Wayne the Werewolf” from “Hotel Transylvania”

September 29, 2012

– – I’m usually not much for family-friendly movie monsters as they tend to be overly sanitized, but Wayne the Werewolf from the upcoming movie Hotel Transylvania may be a redeeming grace, or at least a focal point for furry aficionados.

  Voiced by Steve Buscemi, Wayne is portrayed as a world-weary everyman kinda werewolf who is a data processor by day and a beleaguered father by night.  Wayne and his wife, Wanda, have produced litters of misbehaving pups, and his ball and chain is pregnant yet again; the poor guy’s once acute sense of smell has even been decimated from too many poopie diapers!  This is a poor guy who really needs a vacation at the Hotel Transylvania where a number of classic movie monsters including Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler), the Invisible Man (David Spade), and Frankenstein (Kevin James) are free to be themselves…

“Frankenweenie” is Coming!

September 13, 2012

– – Frankenweenie, a film directed by Tim Burton, is coming this October!  A remake of a 1984 short film by Burton, Frankenweenie is a 3D, black-and-white, stop motion-animated comedy horror film.  Like its 1984 predecessor, the film is both a parody of and an homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein as based on Mary Shelley’s classic gothic novel.  

In the film, a young Victor Frankenstein deploys the power of science to bring his beloved dog, Sparky, back to life.  Unintended and sometimes monstruous consequences ensue.  Vocal talents include Martin Short, Winona Ryder, and Martin Landau.  The art has the look of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and should be well worth a look!

Ted, the Movie…

June 19, 2012

– – Imagine your favorite plush childhood companion coming to life and maturing with you into adulthood, and you have the premise for Ted, a live action/CG movie written, directed, and produced by Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame.  Ted the bear is voiced by MacFarlane himself, and sounds much like his Peter Griffin character would sound like if reincarnated as a teddy bear.  Ted, however, is both outrageous and foul-mouthed; this is not a movie for the kiddies!  Ted is rated “R” for language and content.

Problems arise when the 35-year-old bear owner played by Mark Wahlberg becomes serious with his girlfriend, causing the man to have to wrestle with the consequences of his childhood wish as the bear refuses to leave his side.  The trash-talking furry is coming from Universal Pictures June 29th…

The Great Emancipator, and More!

June 7, 2012

– – Before there was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there was…Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter!  In one of the strangest, genre-blending movies since Cowboys & Aliens, the film to be released June 22nd will mix incidentals of the American Civil War era with the gothic.  Based on the 2010 novel of the same name and co-produced by Tim Burton, it seems that the mother of the 16th president was killed by a supernatural creature, which fuels Lincoln’s passion to crush vampires and their slave-owning helpers!  Lincoln therefore assumes a secret identity as a vampire hunter, brushing elbows during the story with a variety of historical notables, including in the book Edgar Allan Poe.

– –Ha, and you thought that history was a dead subject!- -Well, in a sense, part of it is, at least where the vampires are concerned.  The book has generally received favorable reviews, and been described as being an original vampire tale with heart, humor, and (–of course!) bite.  I’m encouraged by the fact that the vampires in the film will supposedly be presented as fierce, visceral, intense, and bloodthirsty rather than as the insipid pretty boys that they’ve recently morphed into elsewhere.  Lincoln will supposedly prove himself adept at wrestling and with an ax…and John Wilkes Booth wouldn’t have dared to take on this president in a fair fight!

Mythic Mayhem!

March 29, 2012

— It’s not easy being a demigod; everyone expects great things out of you!  Pity poor Perseus; as if whipping the Kraken wasn’t enough in 2010’s Clash of the Titans, now he has to beat a whole host of other assorted monsters in Wrath of the Titans.  There will be a slew of them to boot in this special effects extravaganza, everything from a thirty-foot high Cyclops to a Minotaur to my personal fave, a Chimera…I just like things with multiple heads and incongruous parts that spew fire, that’s the way I roll!  Mighty Kronos himself enters the fray,  just dripping with lava…what more could a boy want?  Yes, I know, robots, zombies, mummies, aliens, and werewolves are extremely cool too, but you can’t have them all in the same movie and preserve artistic integrity.- -Besides, I’d die of too much happiness!

While most of the beasties are computer generated, the Minotaur is played by an actor in a latex suit who underwent four hours of makeup for each day on the set!   You’ll also see Perseus’ noble winged steed Pegasus, and the demonic Makhai, who attack like whirling dervishes.  

This isn’t Shakespeare, but it’s good guy fun…and what’s wrong with that?  Wrath of the Titans opens March 30th…and it’s a cornucopia of creatures!!!– -Woo-hoo!

The Island of Unconventionally Proportioned Animals…

February 25, 2012

– – If you’re up to seeing Michael Caine riding a giant wasp in a movie that includes  former wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as well as wildlife such as really small elephants, you just might like to view the sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3D, awkwardly called,  Journey 2:  The Mysterious Island.  

Advance reviews of the movie appear marvelous in their negativity, with professional film critics noting day-glo vegetation, giant rocks clearly made of styrofoam, and terming the flick, “…everything a twelve-year-old boy could want.”  Jules Verne is probably spinning in his grave over this one…

The Goat Man…

January 30, 2012

 – – Imagine David Duchovny who once played Fox Mulder in The X-Files wearing a full beard and mane of hair and traveling around in a VW Jetta with two goats named Lance and Freida, and you begin to get an idea of what a quirky movie Goats is!  Duchovny’s character, the Goat Man, is a philosophical, marijuana-smoking goatherd who serves as a mentor to a 15-year-old boy in this coming-of-age comedy/drama. 

Duchovny supposedly displays an uncanny ability to make convincing goat sounds, and exhibits a complex relationship with animals in the film.   His stoner/gardener character also walks around in the buff a lot in the movie, which some reviewers call a standout and others have simply considered baaaad