In an effort to recognize every genre and cultural sub-group, Walt Disney Animation Studios has scored again with Moana, a tale recounting how Pacific Islanders traversed the South Seas in search of lands to inhabit. Here, a few archaeological facts are mixed with the Legend of Maui, a demigod/shape-shifter/adventurer who, with his trusty ivory fish…
Admittedly, things are bound be lost in translation when watching an international film. Certain cultural nuances from any given nation can mystify another nation that has its very own set of cultural nuances; that’s just how the world works. Particularly with folklore and mythology, the complete lack of social and cultural context outside of the…
Gorgeous colors and graceful poetic images mark The Red Turtle (La tortue rouge), a wordless 80-minute animated film co-produced by the famed Japanese Studio Ghibli and Dutch animator Michael Dudok de Wit. Made in France, the dialogue-free film was produced by Takahata Isao and co-written by French director Pascale Ferran whose 2014 film “Bird People”…
Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing. Often the fondness for our youth can blind objectivity and feel like a betrayal of those simpler times. I cannot speak for my fellow critics, but I myself am fairly young. I was only six years old when the original Digimon series aired in the U.S. and I have…
Every once in a while, there are films that reaffirm their genres. That’s not to say that they’ve suffered without them, but true gems are few and far between. I consider “Let the Right One In” to be one of these gems among the horror sub-genres. I’d consider Spike Jonze’s “Her” a contender for romance,…
Like an American sprinter against Usain Bolt, Seth Rogen’s Sausage Party starts off quickly (and humorously), but it fails to win the gold medal due to the actor/writer’s problem of not knowing when to reel in the bizarre comic situations (a trait perhaps caused by his close association with pal Adam Sandler) and not push…
I already know I’m going to receive flack for this, so I’m just going to state it plainly: I have not read Alan Moore’s graphic novel “Batman: The Killing Joke.” I have also not seen any of Warner Bros. Pictures’ animated DC library, including any episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series.” I went into Batman:…
