Posts Tagged ‘fantasy’

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John Dies at the End DVD Review: Hey, Thanks for the Spoiler Alert!

Every filmmaker has some sort of visual signature that can be easily recognized in their works. Sometimes, such as in the instance of Alfred Hitchcock, it’s a brief walk-on role that you have to look out for (to say nothing of his directorial style, but that’s quite literally beside the point in his case). For others, it’s the tendency to repeat the same damn scene in every movie they make – such as that no-talent hack Michael Bay and his frequent usage of something exploding on a freeway as the camera pans away. And then there are directors like the great Don Coscarelli. Actually, there’s only one Don Coscarelli: I can’t imagine another moviemaker in this universe who would be capable of pulling off Phantasm, The Beastmaster, and Bubba Ho-Tep. Read the rest of this entry »

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Blu-ray Review: The Princess Bride – 25th Anniversary Edition

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: The Princess Bride – 25th Anniversary Edition on Blogcritics.

Every now and then, the motion picture industry kicks some absolutely serious ass throughout an entire year with a venerable array of odds and ends that go down in cinematic history. One such year was 1987 — which delivered unto us movies to satisfy every genre lover: action (The Living Daylights), sci-fi (Predator), horror (Hellrasier), and even romance (Moonstruck). 1987 also gave us an unprecedented glimpse at to what can happen when someone successfully adapts a fantasy/adventure/comedy/romance novel many previously thought impossible to film. Never an easy task, indeed — especially back when movies didn’t have overrated CGI effects to rely upon. (more…)

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Blu-ray Review: Masters of the Universe – 25th Anniversary Edition

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Masters of the Universe – 25th Anniversary Edition on Blogcritics.

OK, confession time, kids: during the first half of the ’80s, I was one of those kids who was hopelessly addicted to all things He-Man. I had all of the action figures and playsets, watched the cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe religiously, and even extended my collectible madness so far as to collect many of the She-Ra toys. And then, puberty hit — as did reality. At one point, I wrote Mattel with a toy suggestion, which they replied by sending me an official “Sorry, no can do” letter. Later, in 1987, I saw that exact same idea on the shelves. (more…)

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Mirror Mirror (2012) Blu-ray Review: Please, Make it Stop!

When I sat down to soil myself in horror over the fetidness only Mirror Mirror could deliver, I had to take a few moments to look back and ask myself “Has Julia Roberts ever truly made even one good movie?” The answer to that was a very stern “No,” of course: even the truly best movies that happen to have featured her had been hampered by her appearance — a fact that begged me to question whether or not she is even a decent actress to begin with. But then — before I could answer that one — I found myself back in reality, faced with two revolting truths: a) I had soiled myself in horror, and b) I was still watching Mirror Mirror.

[Read the rest at Cinema Sentries.]

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Blu-ray Review: Journey 2 – The Mysterious Island

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Journey 2 – The Mysterious Island on Blogcritics.

Jules Verne’s timeless literary classics have been the target for many an impractical film adaptation over the years, so I think it goes without saying that it’s high time we had a faithful motion picture rendering of one of his works. Sadly, the Walden Media-produced family adventure pic Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is not the film we’ve been waiting for. In fact, it’s nowhere near authentic. Or credible. Actually, truth be told: this is one of the worst damn family-friendly adventure movies I’ve seen in at least a week — an abomination of Hollywood hopelessness that should have Jules Verne come back to life to sue all of those involved with the making of it. (more…)

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Blu-ray Review: Wizards (1977)

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Wizards (1977) on Blogcritics.

Several years after wowing the world with his hugely successful, risqué animated classic for adults, an adaptation of R. Crumb’s Fritz the Cat, Ralph Bakshi brought us something a little more on the serious side — the deadly serious side. Though the title alone invokes nightmarish visions of old guys with beards in large, star-studded dunce caps, Wizards is actually an outlandish adventure set in a post-apocalyptic Earth — in a world full of humans, mutants, fairies, dwarves, goblins, elves, and who knows what else. Following the devastation of the planet, deadly radioactive clouds blurred the skies above — veils of death and decay that have taken two million years to clear for the current inhabitants of the planet to see the light of day. (more…)

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DVD Review: Eureka – Season 4.5

Article first published as DVD Review: Eureka – Season 4.5 on Blogcritics.

There are a lot of advantages when you don’t have Cable TV — especially when you’re as cynical, jaded, and cheap as I am. For one thing, you don’t have to suffer through crappy Reality shows, biased news broadcasts, and infomercials. You also save a few bucks every month. However, I have discovered that there are disadvantages to not having Cable TV — an inconvenience that is almost unforgivable by some people’s standards — being that you can’t keep up with a fun show like SyFy’s Eureka. Fortunately, though, you can keep up with it on DVD, just like I’ve done with Universal’s release of Eureka: Season 4.5. (more…)

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Blu-ray Review: A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: A Trip to the Moon (1902) on Blogcritics.

Two things can happen over a long period of time: technology can improve, and long lost items can be found. Now, when you combine these two elements in the world of film, you frankly have a recipe for something truly spectacular. Take, for example, the 1902 science fiction fantasy classic A Trip to the Moon from the great French special effects pioneer Georges Méliès. Originally released to moviehouses in both black-and-white and hand-colored editions (color hadn’t been introduced to film the way we know it then, kids), the latter version was considered to be a lost film until a copy surfaced in 1993 — during a time when the art of restoration wasn’t as advanced as it is today. (more…)

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DVD Review: Immortals (2011)

Article first published as DVD Review: Immortals (2011) on Blogcritics.

Every so often, some conceited soul who fancies his or herself (though usually his) a filmmaker whips up a bloated, boring, harebrained sword and sandal spectacle that succeeds in employing a heap of computer graphics majors and actors fraught with a dwindling bank account. In 2000, it was Ridley Scott’s Gladiator — a movie that somehow became a hit. In 2006, 300 introduced moviegoers to the lush, vast plains of CGI-dom and the barely coherent screaming of Gerard Butler. There was also that stupid, unnecessary Clash of the Titans remake that made the original look like a classic. (more…)

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DVD Review: Merlin – The Complete Third Season

Article first published as DVD Review: Merlin – The Complete Third Season on Blogcritics.

Though I can sit back for hours on end and watch men in unconvincing rubber suits masquerading as aliens, mutants, and other kinds of monsters in the most tacky of science fiction tales, I have a hard time with many “fantasy” tales — especially when their only reason for being called into existence in the first place was because J.K. Rowling made a mint by creating her famous Harry Potter franchise. Modern film and television has this unhealthy obsession with “reimagining” various properties these days, and timeless tales of magicians are no exception to the latter. A brief look at the BBC series Merlin (also known as The Adventures of Merlin), will solidify such a fascination. (more…)