Director Patrick Rea has a great skill for misdirection, where you think you’re going somewhere in a story, but suddenly you’re in a completely different avenue, plot wise. Patrick Rea delivers another really fine short film called “I Do” that begins like every Patrick Rea movie to date. Something is amidst, and the minute we enter in to the scenario, we want to know what is happening. When we finally do, it’s outstanding.
Say what you want about “Hook.” Many people do. And many movie fans love it because it’s been a part of their childhood. Those who didn’t have the fortune of watching “Hook” as a child consider the 1991 Peter Pan throwback to be a gaudy Spielberg misfire dripping with sap. By virtue of nostalgia, “Hook” is still great. But as a fan of JM Barrie’s “Peter Pan” novel, and the mythos in general, “Hook” is a solid effort, that still manages to pack in the entertainment at all corners. True, it’s by no means a mastepiece with cloying acting by most of the child stars, and some odd casting. I mean, bringing aboard Robin Williams as the dashing Neverland warrior is still poor casting, and while Williams does his best, the movie suffers with him on board.
If we had to have a sequel to “The Lion King” I much would have preferred to see the journey of Simba and his rise to king status than another telling of the first film. Truth be told, “Lion King II” is a retread of “The Fox and the Hound” with a further emphasis on Timone and Pumba. Rather than show more of Simba and his heroism, Disney follows suit and goes back to focus on a younger character while also handing half of the sequel over to Timone and Pumba, whose popularity begins to become the important factor in the “Lion King” series. In the end of “The Lion King” we see Simba and his wife have birthed a young cub. In the sequel we find out that–here’s the twist: Simba had a female cub! Named Kiara, Simba’s daughter is exactly like young Simba, except she is hesitant to take up the royal mantle, much like every princess in the Disney mythology.
1. You can tell a story without dialogue – Go in to any movie catalogue and rent a silent film, and the best silent films will tell you that you don’t need dialogue to tell a good story. “Modern Times,” “The Gold Rush,” “Laugh Clown Laugh,” all amazing stories without dialogue. Human expression, body gestures, idiosyncrasies, they can do so much that dialogue can’t. And “Hush” dares to defy the stereotype that “Buffy” is not funny without the clever one-liners, and it succeeds. You do not need to club us over the head with dialogue to let us know what we should feel, and it’s flawless in its delivery.
I never really read the graphic novel upon which “Superman Unbound” is based on, but I thankfully know of it, and what the new Brainiac is supposed to look like in the mini-series. With the adaptation, there really isn’t a lot to “Superman Unbound.” Brainiac wants to go to Earth to collect a city, Superman and Supergirl have to stop him. Fighting ensues. As an adaptation, it’s an entertaining animated film with some great action sequences, but not too much substance. The focus of “Superman Unbound” is mainly on Superman trying to live the human life, now that he and Lois are a relationship. Lois wants Superman/Clark to become the boyfriend she needs, the supportive and loving man who can give her a life. But Clark is hesitant to press his luck. Especially when she’s always in peril.
I can see why Guillermo Del Toro would be attracted to a film like “Mama.” While it is a horror film in nature, deep down it is a tragic drama about the power of love and the lengths we’ll go to preserve it. “Mama” is the first fantastic film I’ve seen in 2013, a film about spirits and how immense love can be. After their dad murders their mother in a murderous rage, sisters Lily and Victoria are taken to an abandoned cabin where their father looks to mercifully murder them. There, they’ve found something that is not only intent on keeping them safe, but in maintaining their innocence. Years later, the daughters are discovered much older and in a feral state, clinging to a presence they call Mama. Their uncle Luke and aunt Annabel seek to take them back home and establish a life free from the pain of their original lives. But the girls find it impossible not only to adjust, but to display physical affection toward the young couple. Jessica Chastain gives a strong performance as the unkempt Annabel who finds her loyalties lying with her husband Luke when he fights to take care of his nieces Victoria and Lily, and transforms in to a bonafide mother figure of their very own.
Richard Zanuck is a man who spent most of his life living under the shadow of his father Darryl F. Zanuck, and what is most peculiar and quite riveting about Richard Zanuck’s story is that rather than trying to step out of his dad’s shadow, he embraced his father’s status and used it to his advantage. Often times we hear of someone chastising their own status as a wealthy successor, but Richard Zanuck used this fact as a means of bettering himself, and carving his own niche in the Hollywood business.