A team-up between billion-dollar director James Cameron and $7k-feature director Robert Rodriguez never sounded like a sure thing, especially when the project they choose to collaborate on is a live-action adaptation of a 90's era Manga/Anime series. An unlikely collaboration such as this usually yields either brilliance or disaster, but "Alita: Battle Angel" is neither. Instead, it captures the highs [...]
Five years removed from the original The LEGO Movie, Warner Bros. Animation returns with the follow-up to the 2014 smash-hit with, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. It’s star-studded voice cast returns with Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, and Nick Offerman leading the charge, and joining them on this intergalactic adventure is Tiffany [...]
This year another great trilogy can be added to the noble pantheon of great movie trilogies: the How To Train Your Dragon series. Writer/director Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch) has crafted the only truly masterful set of films for Dreamworks Animation. And unfortunately, like most great trilogies (with the arguable exception of Indiana Jones and the Last [...]
What would happen if a 12 year old British boarding school boy somehow came across the sword in the stone and was given the Arthurian task of uniting a deeply divided society to fight against a an ancient evil threatening world domination? This is the premise of Joe Cornish's upcoming second outing as a writer/director, [...]
M. Night Shyamalan is a great storyteller, but that doesn't always equate to being a great writer or director. It seems that he wants the world to recognize him as an auteur. Besides producing, writing and directing his films, he also appears (ala cameo) in each. This arrogant nod to Hitchcock can be fun at times, but [...]
This was a very unconventional year for films in that the blockbusters were better than ever and the Oscar movies are just OK. I enjoyed myself at the movies this year, but I have to admit that there were very few genuinely brilliant films. However, there were enough good ones to make a top ten [...]
Quick! What are your top three ideas for making a good Transformers movie? #1: Get Michael Bay away from it. #2: Find a director that grew up loving the Gen 1 cartoon and understands the fanbase. #3: Ditch the committee written scripts. Find a single writer with a unique perspective, perhaps a woman? After the financial [...]
"Aquaman" has always been one of the silliest heroes in the DC Universe. He's a particularly difficult character for the DCEU to tackle considering their dark, dreary and emo approach to superheroes. They even managed to make Superman depressing! "Justice League" was their first attempt to inject a little frivolity, which might have worked if it [...]
On December 14th, 2018, the Phoenix Critics Circle gathered to announce their winners. "The Favourite" secured the Best Picture award with Alfonso Cuaron winning Best Director for "Roma" Ethan Hawke and Melissa McCarthy won the lead acting awards for their work in "First Reformed" and "Can You Ever Forgive Me", respectively. The complete list of winners and [...]
During our IMAX screening, one word repeatedly popped into my head. "Waste" So, let's talk about Waste. A WASTE of Resources The main plot motivator (apparently) has to do with natural resources in this wanna-be steampunk post-apocalyptic world set roughly 1,000 years in the future. But as concerned as the characters claim to be, there [...]
