Thinking about Rise of the Guardians, Dreamworks’ latest offering, I can’t say for sure whether Pete Ramsey mixed a heart-warming, energetic childrens’ film with a story of secular subversion or vice versa. Most likely, it’s the former; there’s little doubting that Rise of the Guardians exists first and foremost to entertain and dazzle theaters full of tykes and adults alike with impressive panache. In that respect, the film succeeds in overwhelming fashion, boasting a bright, colorful visual palette and a much-improved style of animation while giving its world life through excellent voice casting. (If, of course, your concept of Santa Claus involves Jack Donaghy’s Russian half-brother.) Put simply, there’s no denying that the…
-
-
The LAMBCast: Bond, James Bond!
A week ago last Sunday, I joined a handful of fellow LAMBs– Simon, Fogs, Justin, & Dylan— to talk about the most recent Bond film, Skyfall (my review at A Constant Visual Feast can be found here). You all know my thoughts on the film (I kinda liked it a little bit I guess), but here the five of us tackle the picture head on and pick its bones clean before going onto some rants, some raves (well, mostly raves), and Last LAMB Standing. Click it here to listen to the show; alternately, you can find the LAMBCast on iTunes (just search for LAMBCast). I had a great time recording with these fellows, and I’m sure…
-
The Criterion Files: Brazil
Brazil: Directed by: Terry Gilliam Written by: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond Cinematography by: Roger Pratt Music by: Michael Kamen Released: December 18th, 1985 Terry Gilliam may possess a degree of prescience, not full-blown clairvoyance but respectable foreknowledge. Then again, studios might just be that predictable. When Gilliam made Brazil, his magnum opus, in 1985, he had in his hands a significant and excellent sociopolitical/cultural satire rife with relevance, a film that skewers the haughty foibles of upper crust society and shines a harsh light on the constricting, stymieing grip of bureaucratic foolishness.…
-
'Thor 2' Set Images Toe the Camp Line
…and I love ’em. Courtesy of an article published yesterday on Bleeding Cool, we now have our first glimpse of the dark elves of Thor: The Dark World, along with an individual figure who is 99% likely to be Chris Eccleston suited up in his role as Malekith the Accursed, the film’s heavy. (More accurately: one of the film’s numerous heavies. Tom Hiddleston isn’t done with Loki yet.) While I wasn’t particularly fond of the first Thor film (despite Chris Hemsworth’s abundant charisma), I do think that the characters boasts an enormous amount of stand-out potential in a world of cinematic superheroes who can identify their point of origin as…
-
Super Star Me: Morgan Spurlock to Film One Direction 3D Concert Doc
Morgan Spurlock hasn’t really been relevant since Super Size Me helped him break out in 2004 and actually make a tangible impact on cultural dialogues about weight, health, and the consumption of fast food. 30 Days, his FX television program, saw him begin his decline a year later (though I frankly think that show received less attention than it deserved), while 2008’s Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? arrived with naught but a whimper before everyone collectively decided to ignore it. He followed up that failure with The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and the admittedly more successful Comic Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope in 2011 and added…
-
Off the Shelf…'Brave'
Brave, the latest offering from animation giant Pixar, comes to home video following its successful theatrical run. And just as it was a sight to behold in the cinema, the Blu-Ray transfer is even more mystical and enchanting. Now Brave, either on paper or as a finished product, could be defined very quickly by an odd tension struck between two different bodies: its studio and its pedigree. The very idea of Pixar, long-established as a font of creativity and raw talent put forth in service to compelling and original storytelling, tackling princess films and fairy tales is admittedly weird on its face; at a distance that move seems like a step back.…
-
You Fall, I'll Catch You: Compassion and Bravery in Cloud Atlas
It’s fitting that Cloud Atlas, an inherently brave commercial and artistic venture, places heavy thematic emphasis on instances of human bravery in its sprawl of interwoven plot lines. Andy and Lana Wachowski haven’t built their career together by making cinema that follows traditional notions of filmmaking, after all– going back to 1999, The Matrix completely rewrote the rules of action films in terms of how they’re crafted both visually and thematically, while 2008’s Speed Racer very much defied standards of editing and storytelling in trippy, audacious ways. Taking all of that into account, Cloud Atlas might almost feel like an expected work from the Wachowskis– like the other movies of their oeuvre, it bucks convention, specifically…
-
Yee-haw!…The G-S-T Trailer Round-Up: Zombies, Rom-Coms, and Arnold
Sometimes, too many trailers come out in a single week to give them all the individual attention they may deserve. So today I’m trying out something new and doing a trailer catch-all, because of all the teasers that have been release this week, I just can’t choose which ones I want to showcase the most. But why choose when I can just lump them all together in one big post? Let’s cut off the preamble there, let’s start off with: Warm Bodies If after seeing 50/50 last year, someone had told me Jonathan Levine’s next project would essentially be “Twilight with zombies”, I’d have laughed at them. So, really, I’m…
-
Max Landis Set to Direct, Not Write, 'Me Him Her'
Well, here’s a cool bit of news from Variety: Max Landis, A.K.A “Son of Landis” and the man behind this year’s sleeper hit Chronicle, is going to step out from behind the keyboard and settle right down into the director’s chair. According to the press release, it looks like he’s going to be at the helm for Big Beach Films’ comedy project Me Him Her. After Chronicle, seeing Landis take on a comedy– particularly a comedy focusing on three twenty-something leads dealing with what sounds like an array of sexual identity crises– may strike a few out there as being somewhat odd at first blush. With a few moments of consideration, though,…
-
Sweet Trailer…'Side Effects'
You may have seen this trailer already, given that it hit the web on Friday, but Steven Soderbergh’s films generally tend to be worth getting excited for and talking about. So, basically, forgive me for being late to the party. After the string of wins Soderbergh has had recently (2011’s Contagion, this year’s Haywire and, much more notably, Magic Mike), the chameleonic director doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of softening up or slowing down; the trailer for pharmaceutical drama/thriller Side Effects more or less confirms this while also continuing Soderbergh’s habit of keeping to a consistent roster of actors. See for yourself: That’s right: after appearing in both…
