Still no giveaway as to the plot of it, but this second trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens still manages to build upon the first. For one, if my ears hear correctly, Luke’s narration makes it sound as if he may have a child with a powerful connection to the Force and that his…
Once upon a time, back in the Light Ages of Hollywood genre filmmaking (aka the 80s), the ancient fantasy picture was a thing of popular beauty. They weren’t all classics, but the memorable likes of “Conan the Barbarian,” “The Beastmaster,” “Willow,” “The Princess Bride,” “Legend,” “The Neverending Story,” “Dragonslayer,” “The Last Unicorn,” and “The Dark…
The Empire isn’t quite dead, although it’s taken thirty years for them to regroup to make a new power play against the Republic. In the hotly anticipated trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens those moves are, sadly, not spoiled. It’s more an amalgamation of what to expect — a new Sith Lord, stormtroopers geared…
In a world of ice, Disney finds great warmth. It’s the sort of cutesy irony that sounds like it should be coated in sugar, but with Frozen, Disney takes the sweet concept and transforms it into their most poignant and powerful picture in over a decade. Or nearly even two decades if you consider that…
I suppose every new animated feature has to have a comic relief side-kick that follows in the footsteps of Scrat of “Ice Age” fame. In Walt Disney Studio’s Frozen that sidekick appears to be a snowman named Olaf. His purpose is unclear (other than to make the kids laugh) but from the synopsis of the…
According to the late author Michael Talbot, “What we perceive as reality is only a canvas waiting for us to draw upon it any picture we want. Magic is our birthright, no more or less miraculous than our ability to compute the reality we want when we are in our dreams.” In the comedy-drama Ruby…
For nearly the first hour of Snow White and the Huntsman, Rupert Sanders — in his directorial debut — sticks to the dark, gritty, violent, realistic fairy tale template laid down by Terry Gilliam (of the Monthy Python troupe fame) in the excellent, but misunderstood “The Brothers Grimm.” Then, two bad things happen: He allows…
