Variety has their review of this weekend’s opening of “A Christmas Carol.”
Shortchanging traditional animation by literalizing it while robbing actors of their full range of facial expressiveness, the performance-capture technique favored by director Robert Zemeckis looks more than ever like the emperor’s new clothes in “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.” Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella and screen [...]
Thicker Than Water: A Slice of SciFi Review
October 29, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | Leave a Comment
Reviewed by: Summer Brooks (Slice of SciFi Producer)
Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries Trilogy, Part 1
Written and Directed by: Phil Messerer
Starring: Eilis Cahill, Devon Bailey, Jo Jo Hristova, Michael Strelow
IMDb: http://imdb.com/title/tt1305766/
Official Website:: http://bloodjunky.com/
Lara’s Blog: http://larabaxter.blogspot.com/
Slice of SciFi Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0
Lara and Helen might be twin sisters, but they’re as different as [...]
“Where the Wild Things Are” — A Variety Review
October 12, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | Leave a Comment
Variety has weighed in on the upcoming movie version of “Where the Wild Things Are.”
Fleet of foot, emotionally attuned to its subject and instinctively faithful to its celebrated source, “Where the Wild Things Are” earns a lot of points for its hand-crafted look and unhomogenized, dare-one-say organic rendering of unrestrained youthful imagination. But director Spike [...]
“Zombieland” — A Hollywood Reporter Review
September 28, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 4 Comments
Bottom Line: A bloody, disgusting blast.
Falling closer in tone to “Shaun of the Dead” than “28 Days Later” or the George Romero movies, “Zombieland” has its tongue planted firmly in its rancid cheek while still delivering the visceral goodies.
It’s an admittedly tricky balance that’s pulled off with energetic panache by first-time director Ruben Fleischer and [...]
Reviewed by: Bill Gibron of Filmcritic.com
Director: Jonathan Mastow
Producer: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Max Handelman, Elizabeth Banks
Screenwriter: John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Stars: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Ving Rhames, James Cromwell
MPAA Rating: PG-13
FilmCritic.com Rating = 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars
Delivers a surprisingly dense deconstruction on how hazardous getting lost inside technology can truly be.
Virtual reality and artificial intelligence [...]
“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” — A FilmCritic Review
September 17, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 1 Comment
Reviewed By: Bill Gibron - for Filmcritic.com
Directors: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Producer: Pam Marsden
Screenwriters: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Voice Actors: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, Neil Patrick Harris
MPAA Rating: PG
FilmCritic Rating = 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars
“Formulated as a spoof of famous disaster films and executed with plenty of [...]
Variety has posted a review of the long-delayed movie, “The Road.”
This “Road” leads nowhere. If you’re going to adapt a book like Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 bestseller, you’re pretty much obliged to make a terrific film or it’s not worth doing — first because expectations are high, and second, because the picture needs to make it [...]
“The Final Destination 3D” — A FilmCritic.com Review
August 28, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 1 Comment
Reviewed by: Bill Gibron of Filmcritic.com
Director: David R. Ellis
Producers: Craig Perry, Warren Zide
Screenwriters: Eric Bress, Jeffrey Reddick
Actors: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson
MPAA Rating: R
FilmCritic.com Rating = 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars
“If all you care about is gory deaths delivered in a cheesy, B-movie manner, The Final Destination 3D delivers.”
They [...]
Review by: Bill Gibron of Filmcritic.com
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Producers: Robert Rodriguez, Elizabeth Avellán
Screenwriter: Robert Rodriguez
Actors: William H. Macy, James Spader, Jon Cryer, Jimmy Bennett, Kat Dennings, Trevor Gagnon, Leslie Mann
MPAA Rating: PG
FilmCritic Rating = 2.5 out of 5.0 Stars
“….Shorts doesn’t even pretend to be a quality family film.”
Robert Rodriguez is a true commercial schizophrenic. Whenever he [...]
Reviewed by: Chris Barsanti of FilmCritic.com
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Producers: Peter Jackson & Carolynne Cunningham
Writers: Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tachell
Actors: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Vanessa Haywood, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Mandla Gaduka & Kenneth Nkosi
MPAA Rating: R
FilmCritic.com Rating = 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars
“District 9 has an admirably grungy, guerrilla aesthetic about it that keeps the script’s [...]
“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” — A FilmCritic.com Review
August 7, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 4 Comments
Review by: Chris Barsanti of Filmcritic.com
Director: Stephen Sommers
Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Bob Ducsay, Stephen Sommers
Screenwriters: Stuart Beattie, David Elliot, Paul Lovett
Actors: Dennis Quaid, Christopher Eccleston, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Said Taghmaoui, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Rachel Nichols, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Arnold Vosloo
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Premiere Date: August 7, 2009
FilmCritic Review Rating [...]
A film review by Chris Cabin of Filmcritic.com
Director: Sophie Barthes
Producers: Daniel Carey, Elizabeth Giamatti, Paul S. Mezey, Andrij Parekh, Jeremy Kipp Walker
Screenwriter: Sophie Barthes
Actors: Paul Giamatti, Dina Korzun, Emily Watson, David Strathairn, Katheryn Winnick, Lauren Ambrose, Boris Kievsky, Oksana Lada
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Premiere Date: August 7, 2009 (Limited Release)
FilmCritic.com Rating = 3.5 out of 5.0 [...]
On this week’s Slice of SciFi, we’ll be talking more about the eagerly anticipated release of “District 9.”
If you can’t wait until Saturday to find out more, a couple of reviews are starting to hit the Internet.
First up is the review from trade paper, Variety.
Upon the ashes of his aborted “Halo” vidgame adaptation, producer Peter [...]
“Thirst” (”Bakjwi”) — A FilmCritic.com Review
July 30, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | Leave a Comment
Reviewed by: Chris Cabin of FilmCritic.com
Director: Park Chan-wook
Producers: Park Chan-wook, Ahn Soo-hyun
Screenwriters: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-gyeong
Actors: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Kim Hae-sook, Shin Ha-kyun, Park In-hwan
MPAA Rating: NR
FilmCritic.com Rating = 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars
“The hysteria of vampirism is conveyed technically rather than through performance, for the most part.”
The thrill of sin and the thrill [...]
Reviewed by: Jason McKiernan for Filmcritic.com
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Producers: Leonardo DiCaprio, Susan Downey, Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Joel Silver
Screenwriter: David Leslie Johnson
Actors: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett, Aryana Engineer, Margo Martindale
MPAA Rating: R
FilmCritic Rating = 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars
“This movie is still a ridiculous, unbelievable horror show in which we root [...]
Reviewed by: Bill Gibron for FilmCritic.com
Director: Hoyt Yeatman Jr.
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenwriters: Cormac Wibberley, Marianna Wibberley, Ted Elliott
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Penélope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, Tracy Morgan, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy, Zach Galifianakis
MPAA Rating: PG
FilmCritic.com Rating = 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars
“An awful lot of effort went into G-Force. It is technically proficient and all [...]
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” — A Variety Review
July 8, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 1 Comment
Kids’ stuff is a thing of the past in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Suddenly looking quite grown up, the students at Hogwarts are forced to grapple with heavy issues of mortality, memory and loss in this sixth installment in the series of bigscreen adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s Potter tales. Dazzlingly well made and [...]
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” — A FilmCritic Review
June 23, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 13 Comments
Director: Michael Bay
Producers: Ian Bryce, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy
Screenwriters: Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Actors: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Hugo Weaving, John Turturro, Rainn Wilson, Tyrese Gibson, Isabel Lucas, Peter Cullen, Kevin Dunn, Julie White
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Early Preview in limited release: June 23, 2009
Premiere Date: June 24, 2009 (conventional theaters [...]
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen — A Variety Review
June 16, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 1 Comment
With machines that are impressively more lifelike, and characters that are more and more like machines, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” takes the franchise to a vastly superior level of artificial intelligence. As for human intelligence, it’s primarily at the service of an enhanced arsenal of special effects, which helmer Michael Bay deploys like a [...]
Director: Duncan Jones
Writers: Duncan Jones (original story), Nathan Parker (screenplay)
Actors: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey (voice of robot), Kaya Scodelario
Reviewed by: Chris Cabin
Film Critic Rating = 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars
“Screenwriter Nathan Parker has fashioned a nifty, timely little nugget of space buffoonery out of the aforementioned proceedings and, despite minor gaps of illogical lunacy, [...]
Studio: Universal, Relativity Media, Sid & Marty Krofft/Mosaic Production. Movie based on the TV series by Sid & Marty Krofft.
Director: Brad Silberling
Producers: Jimmy Miller, Sid Krofft, Marty Krofft
Executive Producers: Daniel Lupi, Julie Wixson Darmody, Adam McKay, Brad Silberling & Ryan Kavanaugh.
Co-Producers: John Swallow, Josh Church.
Screenwriters: Chris Henchy & Dennis McNicholas
Actors: Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, [...]
Director: Nati Baratz
Producers: Nati Baratz, Arik Bernstein, Ilil Alexander
Screenwriter: Nati Baratz
Star: Tenzin Zopa
MPAA Rating: NR
FilmCritic Rating = 3.0 out of 5 Stars
“Baratz’s style is sober and plainspoken, though there is something to be said about how, as the child is examined, the viewer begins to question both the ceremonial aspects of the culture and [...]
Sam Raimi returns to his roots in “Drag Me to Hell,” a flagrantly schlocky horror yarn that will titillate the teens without alienating the director’s far pickier fanboy contingent, who will find the “Evil Dead”-style action they’ve been clamoring for in a surprisingly potent PG-13 package. When the bank forecloses on an old gypsy’s house, [...]
Night At The Musem: Battle of the Smithsonian — A FilmCritic Review
May 22, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | 9 Comments
Director: Shawn Levy
Producers: Shawn Levy, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
Screenwriters: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon
Actors: Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Amy Adams, Hank Azaria, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader and Christopher Guest
MPAA Rating: PG
Film Critic Rating = 2 out of 5 Stars
“Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is like an overstuffed sausage. There [...]
Director: McG
Producers: Jeanne Allgood, Peter D. Graves, Mario Kassar, Dan Lin, Andrew G. Vajna
Screenwriters: Michael Ferris, John Brancato, Paul Haggis, Jonathan Nolan, Shaun Ryan, Anthony Zuiker
Actors: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Common, Helena Bonham Carter
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Film Critic Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
“Salvation doesn’t advance Cameron’s original [...]
“Terminator: Salvation” — Hollywood Reporter Review
May 18, 2009 || Category: Film Reviews | Leave a Comment
Bottom Line: The machines rise to the occasion. Too bad the dramatic element’s just as robotic.
The latest chapter in the successful cyborg series following 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” — and the first sans Schwarzenegger — “Terminator Salvation” doesn’t skimp on all that crunching heavy metal.
But while incoming director McG (the “Charlie’s Angels” [...]
Variety has posted their review of this weekend’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Below is a sample of the trade magazine’s review:
Heavily fortified with adamantium, testosterone and CGI, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is a sharp-clawed, dull-witted actioner that falls short of the two Bryan Singer-directed pics in the franchise but still overpowers 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand.” For [...]
Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved “Star Trek” will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana. Faithful enough to the spirit and key particulars of Gene Roddenberry’s original conception to keep its torchbearers happy but, more crucially, exciting on its own terms in a way that [...]
Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
Film: “Monsters vs. Aliens”
Directors: Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
Writers: Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky, Rob Letterman, Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger and Conrad Vernon
Voice Actors: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, Julie White, Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Poehler, Ed Helms and Renée Zellweger
Genre: Animation, [...]
Although made mostly of spare parts, “Knowing” is a not-bad supernatural-tinged sci-fier that has more on its mind than the run-of-the-mill effects-driven extravaganza. Absorbing and able to be taken seriously most of the way, Alex Proyas’ generally somber look at a small group of people tipped off about the imminence of doomsday doesn’t smoothly synthesize [...]
