The NeverEnding Story: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - There were movies that I watched while growing up and then there are movies that I grew up with, and The NeverEnding Story was one of the latter. It was with me for as long as I can remember. My family and I used to watch the VHS copy that my grandma owned many of the times that we visited. I still remember my fascination with the opening title sequence as that catchy title song started playing and we were shown visuals of mysterious clouds. As it was released just two years before I was born, there was never a time when I didn't know The NeverEnding Story. But I do believe that I can give a fairly objective review and I will share with you some of the things that worked well for me as a kid and what still works well for me as an adult.

Click to read more ...

Life of Pi: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - I don't like Ang Lee. Not personally, of course, but I don't think I've walked away from one of his movies and been really impressed. I'm sure he's an alright person. Brokeback Mountain was tedious and overrated. Hulk was hilariously bad. Even his classic Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon I only felt was alright. So, while I would be curious to see an adaptation of Life of Pi, you'll have to forgive my scepticism when I heard that Ang Lee was directing it. Although, I will give him this: he's at least got a very diverse filmography so that's worth something. I have to admit that the trailers of this movie were wondrous though. Such imagery and visual effects were quite appealing and supposedly the 3D used would be groundbreaking and the best usage of the format since... I don't know, everyone says “since Avatar” but not everything can be the best since Avatar. I was interested in seeing the film, but I haven't read the popular novel and I only vaguely know what it's about.

Click to read more ...

Beasts of the Southern Wild: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Beasts of the Southern Wild follows a young 6-year old girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives with her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), in a bayou community in Louisiana, referred to locally as “The Bathtub.” She is a strong willed child who is given many life lessons from Wink, who gets extremely sick and is hospitalized for a time. When he returns, the community is in panic because a massive storm is approaching and floods the town completely. Wink continues to teach Hushpuppy how to survive under the harshest conditions as they find the other survivors and are forcefully approached by rescue workers.

Click to read more ...

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Like most people, when I first heard of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, I chuckled. Steve Ferguson of Sour Grapes Winery has previous reviewed the novel, but this year, the film adaptation was released, which was also penned by Grahame-Smith, which shouldn't be entirely surprising considering Grahame-Smith's undergraduate studies in film and his previous work in television. Fantasy horror action films aren't too common these days, at least as feature films, thus when the opportunity came along to check out this strange looking film, I jumped at it.

Click to read more ...

Snow White and the Huntsman: A film review

- Vancouver, British Columbia - This year may be a little oversaturated with the tale of Snow White. Earlier this year, I got the chance to view Relativity Media's Mirror, Mirror featuring Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer, which amounted to a rather comic look at the famed fairytale of Snow White. It is funny the effect that Disney can have upon one's understanding of fairytales, since I had grown up with the impression that the Seven Dwarves were always intended to be among the main players of the fairytale, but apparently not. Now, however, Universal Pictures has released Snow White and the Huntsman just a few short months after Mirror Mirror, and I must say that one of the two studios should've blinked and delayed their release. I've had a little too much Snow White for one year, but nonetheless, I decided to put forth this review.

Click to read more ...