We have a story in my family. I was three years old and grappling with the crisis of identity and insane jealousy that accompanied the new baby sister in my orbit. It must have been October because a small pumpkin was within my small reach. I seized said pumpkin and hurled it at said little…
Everyone can agree that the exceedingly spry “Kung Fu Panda” film series have been certified exquisite and adventurous productions from day one. It is no surprise that the third installment, Kung Fu Panda 3, continues to carry the mantle by being a gorgeously stylish and visually arresting computer-animation film exuding a vibrant cheekiness that shines. More important…
You can say Po, the lovable panda of “Kung Fu Panda” and “Kung Fu Panda 2” is a lot of things, smart just isn’t one of them. Apparently, it isn’t a strong suit of his birth father’s either. In this third installment aptly titled Kung Fu Panda 3, Po (voiced again by Jack Black) now…
Stet, a troubled and angry Texas boy of eleven lives on the less affluent side of the tracks in Boychoir, Quebecois director François Girard’s (“The Red Violin”) feel-good story about a musically talented boy’s climb from adversity to self-acceptance. Written by Ben Ripley (“Source Code”), Girard’s first film in seven years boasts an outstanding cast…
Anticipating the appearance of Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt), a prominent food critic, Carl Casper (Jon Favreau), a respected chef at a popular restaurant in Los Angeles, wants to add some innovations to the restaurant’s tried and true menu. Riva (Dustin Hoffman), the bistro owner, however, tells him to stick to what has always worked, a…
The premise for 2008’s Kung Fu Panda was conceptualized by a DreamWorks Animation executive, Michael Lachance, and has been around since the early ’90s. When it finally released, the production (directed by John Wayne Stevenson and Mark Osborne) slowly became a financial and critical success for the studio. In fact, the story of Po (voiced…
You’d think that January would be a month brimming with cinematic gems — a new year means new opportunities, in turn, allowing fresh talents to be inducted into the grand scheme of Hollywood. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case, and for any dignified film connoisseur, January is just the beginning of a cold and barren…
