For today’s review I thought I’d tackle a film that I’ve long been a fan of, even when it wasn’t popular to like it. It’s the first installment in a cinematic universe, which normally would mean that it should also be the best, but in this case the film was so infamously panned by both critics and audiences that it almost killed the franchise dead before it began.
I’m talking of course about the one and only STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE.
Judy Blume’s “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret” is quite possibly one of the most iconic and influential young adult novels ever written. Even back in the early nineties, all the girls in my class read it. Director Kelly Fremon Craig pulls off a great feat, taking what’s usually considered a novel for young girls and transforms it in to a narrative that any tween or pre-teen can relate to. Even with its setting in 1970, “Are You There, God?” is still such a down to Earth and richly developed story about growing up, choosing your path in life, and trying to understand the adults in your life.
For a studio that has a monopoly on animation, you’d think they wouldn’t be afraid of larger color palette, by now. I don’t know what it is about Disney where they think that the best approach to remake their classic films is to suck all the life out of them. The general color schemes for “Peter Pan & Wendy” are hefty shades of browns and whites that make the movie feel drab and bland. With a movie about Peter Pan and Neverland, this movie should feel colorful, bright, and exciting. Most of the time while I appreciated certain aspects of David Lowery’s production, “Peter Pan & Wendy” was a chore.
This week on WAPJ-FM’s award-winning “Nutmeg Chatter,” Phil Hall is joined by Cinema Crazed’s publisher and editor Felix Vasquez Jr. for a discussion on the 85th anniversary of Bugs Bunny’s debut.
(And listen carefully because we make a mistake in discussing Bugs’ history – can you guess where we went wrong?)
I’m surprised with how much I enjoyed “Blood Relatives,” since it’s not so much a horror film, as it is more of a road trip drama comedy about two vampires. That’s not meant to disparage “Blood Relatives” at all, I found Noah Segan’s horror comedy to be quite good and a very engaging tale about a father and daughter learning to love one another and bond. What makes their dynamic even more difficult is that they have the whole vampire thing wedging between them, which amounts to considerable dramatic tension. Thankfully none of the dynamic ever really feels forced, as Noah Segan and Natalie Moroles have great chemistry.
Director Jalmari Helander’s “Sisu” is a bat shit insane action movie in a year filled with some pretty good action entries. It’s like Indiana Jones and The Punisher were mashed together with a hint of Jason Voorhees, and out came “Sisu.” It’s a Nazi killing, dismembering, mutilating, head stabbing, revenge saga that manages to competently take its paper thin premise and produces an absolutely gore soaked homage to exploitation action films of the seventies and eighties.
Playing at 26 Alamo Drafthouse locations for a special engagement on Monday, May 15th; the presentation will include an exclusive introduction and pre-recorded post-screening Q&A with members of the cast and director, Ted Nicolaou. Tickets available now at drafthouse.com
I have to give it to director Ted Nicolaou, he really does give his return to the “Subspecies” series what seems to be his very best. The “Subspecies” vampire series was one of the crowning jewels of Full Moon Films back in their heyday and cult director Ted Nicolaou re-visits it once more to complete the story of the villainous albeit tragic vampire lord Radu.