Happy Feet Two: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - I remember the first Happy Feet quite well when it came out in theatres five years ago. It opened in November 2006 up against the new James Bond film Casino Royale. And would you believe it, a movie about a toe-tapping penguin beat Bond and took #1 at the box office and went on to gross almost $400 million internationally. It was Warner Brothers' big contender in the battle of animated films. Then they never really followed it up with anything until The Legend of the Guardians in 2010, which failed at the box office. So, they went the safe route and came back to Happy Feet, making a sequel that I felt was a little unnecessary.

Click to read more ...

Shipwrecked: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - I can imagine that few of you reading this will have ever heard of this film, or if you happen to have stumbled upon it via Google, maybe you were searching it out specifically. In any event, if you're a faithful Sour Grapes Winery reader, Shipwrecked stands out as something of a special piece of memorabilia, as it was the first film that I ever saw in a theatre. My parents had managed to get free tickets to an advanced screening to the film and as I came from a large family, going to the cinema was not something that was regular, let alone possible, for my parents to afford. Later when the film came out on VHS, my parents purchased it and I re-watched the film countless times, memorizing every line of the dialogue. It occurred to me recently that it had been probably at least 14-15 years since I had seen the film, so I sought out a DVD copy on Amazon and managed to order it with the intention of reviewing it, which is where I find myself today.

Click to read more ...

Secondhand Lions: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Family movies have a habit of being much like visits to a family reunion: drab, dull, and somewhat superficial. I watched a good number of them growing up, and revisiting them in my adult years has not been kind to them, but once in awhile, a family film comes along that doesn't pander to the family film genre. Secondhand Lions is one of those films, bringing a randomly creative flair to what should've been an unispiring story premise.

Click to read more ...

Mars Needs Moms: A film review

- Vancouver, British Columbia - Mars Needs Moms is a flop. A box office disaster. It's opening weekend pulled in just over $6 million, which didn't even come anywhere near it's preposterously high budget of $150 million. At the time I'm writing this, it has only made just over $20 million, three weeks after it opened. Disney will not make their money back... no time soon anyway. Someone is in big trouble for this failure and I'm pondering as to who would be responsible for it.

Click to read more ...