Mystery Men is one of the most underappreciated comic book movies of all time. Really, I don’t understand why people don’t like this film more.
First, it has a brilliant, sublime performance by William H. Macy as The Shoveller. He brings such pathos and resonance to what could have been an extremely silly role. […]
When I saw Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in the theaters, I was extremely impressed. As I have mentioned before, I’m a big fan of 1960s sci-fi and adventure movies like Barbarella and Casino Royale with their big sets and peculiar point of view. It was clear to me that writer/star Mike […]
Man on the Moon tells the story of Andy Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey), from his early years (though there isn’t much of that) to his premature death at the age of 35. As with most biopics, it is a highly stylized re-telling, but it’s embracing of Kaufman’s disruptive form of comedy makes it […]
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are two of Disney’s more interesting releases. Originally envisioned by Walt Disney as an “event” (one that you would dress up for, as if going to a real concert), Fantasia was a financial disaster for the company, almost bringing them to ruin.
And it wasn’t all that warmly received critically, either. […]
Toy Story 2 is one of those rare occasions when the sequel outdoes the original. While Toy Story is a wonderful film, but its biggest draw is the (then) unique style of animation used. By Toy Story 2, it would take more than CGI visuals to grab an audience. It does this […]
Film #001 - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Film #002 - Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Film #003 - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Film #004 - Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Film #005 - Star Wars: Episode V - The […]
Viewed December 28, 2006
The Road Home begins with a young man named Changyu (Hao Zheng) learning of the recent death of his father. When he returns to his village, he finds that his mother wishes to have his father’s body carried home by the men of the village (an old custom), despite the difficulties […]
Viewed December 1, 2006
Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas is an anthology film that tells three Christmas-themed stories in Disney style.
The first is a story featuring Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. It has some similarities to the classic film Groundhog Day as the nephews wish that every day was Christmas and […]
Viewed November 21, 2006
Election is one of those “dark comedies” that are so popular with film critics (less so with audiences). The fact that it takes a decidedly negative view of just about everyone explains why critics thought highly of this film. But unlike other dark school comedies (like Heathers, for instance), virtually […]
Viewed November 12, 2006
Boy, I didn’t care for The Iron Giant. I thought I would, given that it was directed by Brad Bird, who would later direct The Incredibles. But whereas The Incredibles is an intelligent look at what defines individuality in the world, The Iron Giant (which shares some of the same […]
Viewed September 23, 2006
I really wanted to like writer/director Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown. When he’s on his game, there are few actors better than Sean Penn and everything seemed to point to a solid performance here as fictional guitar great Emmet Ray. But it’s not from Penn that the great performance comes.
It […]
Viewed July 28, 2006
Well, I’ve already watched the original Love Affair and its first remake, An Affair to Remember. Unable (so far) to track down a copy of the Warren Beatty / Annette Bening version of Love Affair, I’ve moved ahead to the most recent take on the story, the Bollywood film Mann, which […]
Viewed July 6, 2006
I bought and watched The Suburbans on the strength of the appearance of Will Ferrell (I know, I know). I mean, it wasn’t just Ferrell, The Suburbans is considered to be in the canon of the Frat Pack films, so I thought it had a good chance of at least being […]
Viewed July 1, 2006
When Brian Henson and Co. revived the Muppet film franchise with 1992’s Muppet Christmas Carol, there was something missing. This continued with the followup, Muppet Treasure Island (1996). A big factor, of course, was the lack of Muppet creator Jim Henson, who passed away in 1990. But perhaps as […]
Viewed June 14, 2006
Phil Collins: Face Value is one of the series of “Classic Albums” documentaries, designed to explore the creation of music albums that have stood the test of time. This one, naturally, covers Collins’ debut solo album from 1981.
It goes into quite a bit of depth concerning the artistic decisions made with […]
Viewed March 31, 2006
Now that’s a Bond film! After watching the underwhelming Die Another Day (a.k.a. DAD) earlier, I had kind of held off continuing on my backwards trip through the Pierce Brosnan films. But the release of Casino Royale is only getting closer, so I needed to keep moving and sat down […]
Viewed March 24, 2006
Honestly, it was Will Ferrell that made me finally watch Superstar. Although I have felt for some time that Molly Shannon is a gifted performer, her Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher has always irritated me (along with most of her SNL characters, and Ferrell’s, and most of SNL post-Phil […]
Viewed March 9, 2006
Oh my, what can be said about Merlin: The Return? I’m a big fan of Arthurian stories and can usually find something appealing about most of them. (For instance, I’ve been known to gush at some length about that episode of Thundercats where Mumm-Ra acquired Excalibur.) But Merlin: The […]
Viewed January 5, 2006
Tenchi Forever (also known as Tenchi Muyo In Love 2 ) is the third of three theatrical films based on the Tenchi Muyo series.
What makes Tenchi Forever a bit odd (and made it a little difficult for me to get into) is that its tone is radically different than the […]