The bond between a boy and his dog is a strong one. So when Victor’s dog Sparky goes to the big kennel in the sky, Victor brings him back to life. There are always complications, however, and in the case of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie — an interesting take on the Frankenstein story — those complications…
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…
So many times, the third film of a franchise can either make or break the series. For example, the third of the original “Superman” movies (with Richard Pryor as the villain) set the series reeling (and “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” destroyed it). The same can be said for the “Shrek,” “Ice Age,” “Spider-Man”…
There is certainly something to be said for the wonderful claymation and quirky British comedy of The Pirates! Band Of Misfits, the by-product of such other animated films as “Flushed Away,” “Chicken Run” and the “Wallace and Gromit” series. I have always appreciated this technique because it shows that the old-style way of making this…
I suppose the main question about this update is will the ridiculously violent, but often hilarious, slapstick comedy of Moses and Jerome Horiwitz and Louis Feinberg translate onto the modern screens of 2012. I am of course writing about Moe and Curly Howard and their third wheel, Larry Fine, who became the Three Stooges (after…
Who knew Tarsem Singh Dhandwar had a sense of humor? Well, apparently not me. So color me pleasantly surprised that the imagery-obsessed filmmaker behind such stony-faced pictures as “The Cell” and last fall’s “Immortals” has finally revealed a different side of himself with the playful fairy tale movie Mirror Mirror. A lighthearted interpretation of the…
Though Joseph Cedar’s Footnote (original title Hearat Shulayim) is a look at the Israeli academic community’s insularity and hubris, the problems it raises are universal and the film could most likely take place anywhere in the world. One of five nominated films at this year’s Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category, Footnote allows us…
