Everyone’s invited to Disney’s PG pity-party Maleficent. Directed in the cadence of a Lana Del Rey song (who, coincidentally, shows up during the credits with a closing track), this live-action re-imagining of the 1959 animated classic “Sleeping Beauty” has enough gothic romance, leather gowns, and teen gloominess to attract a substantial summer audience. Surprisingly, however,…
Riccardo Paoletti is no stranger to the magic of Fellini. Once upon a time in 2006, the director presented a story of black and white, “Dailies” (In coda ai titoli), about crewmembers who worked at the legendary Cinecittà in the sixties. Paoletti’s latest project, Neverlake, captures a touch of Fellini’s magical realism and blends it…
Disney has unveiled the first trailer for Maleficent, their prequel of sorts to “Sleeping Beauty” that tells the tale of how the wicked queen came to be. In it, Angelina Jolie, as Maleficent, slinks around the periphery between light and dark while the lovely Aurora (Elle Fanning) frolics and plays with fairies and other woodland…
For kids and monsters and kids who love monsters (and for adults, too!) comes a movie about kids and monsters and kids who love monsters (and it’s about adults, too!). Far from normal, ParaNorman is sweet little stop-motion confection that bleeds love for horror cinema and channels that passion into a concentrated celebration of odd…
Back-to-back duds from Pixar? What’s next — the Apocalypse? The writing was on the wall, however, when the opening short, “La Luna,” (about two men and a little boy shoveling little stars on the moon) — so long one of my favorite ingredients of this studio — comes across as overly artsy and not at…
It’s intriguing that a film with an all-star cast and plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll (along with copious amounts of blood, gore and monsters) can run out of steam in the second half. Ah, hell, it’s really just sad because it results in one of the least favorably-rated Tim Burton-Johnny Depp collaborations…
There is but two guarantees in the movie business and both deal with Johnny Depp. One, he can always be counted on to play “interesting” characters. Two, he is attached to the hip of Tim Burton. Both of these certainties are in play in the Gothic-themed horror flick Dark Shadows. Based on a 1960’s cult…
