I have become one of the SF Signal Irregulars, and my first review for them, of Joe Johnston's The Wolfman, is up and running:
Since 1992, filmmakers of varying degrees of talent and ability have attempted to revive, if not truly remake, the monster movies produced by Universal Pictures during the 1930s. Francis Ford Coppola did it well by pulling out all the cinematic stops with Bram Stoker's Dracula. Kenneth Branagh did it badly with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Stephen Somers did it really badly by attempting to reinvigorate the monster mashups of the 1940s with Van Helsing. (I'm leaving out The Mummy, of course, but since there's so little of the original in Somers's remake I can hardly compare the two. It would be like comparing apples to chum.) Now Joe Johnston, director of such cinematic trifles as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer and Jumanji, has decided to have a go at The Wolfman, with results that are as ephemeral as his previous work.
The aliens are here, and they're abducting unwary individuals in Nome, Alaska. So asserts director Olatunde Osunsanmi's The Fourth Kind, which attempts to take the concept of alien visitation and abduction into the mockumentary territory inhabited by The Blair Witch Project (the first horror movie to stake claim), Cloverfield and the recent Paranormal Activity.
But it has two specific differences: (1) unlike the aforementioned films, The Fourth Kind purports to be based on actual events, backed up by documentary evidence used during the movie itself; and (2) unlike the aforementioned films, it has nothing to recommend it beyond its premise or its dubious assertions.
Henry Slesar's animated version of Neil Gaiman's acclaimed YA novellaCoraline featuring the voices of Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher opens today to bore the snot out of movie goers. While exceedingly beautiful, the movie rehashes well trodden turf: Young girl hates parents... runs away to a magical land with cool parents... discovers the new parents are even worse than the originals... girl escapes and decides her real parents are okay. Throw in a senseless and dull quest and you have essentially the entire film minus the gorgeous scenery. While much like Slesar's previous efforts (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Monkeybone), the vivid animation thrills, but after an hour of the dull story, I begin to nod off. The 3-d, as with most films, does little to enhance the movie.
My wife Brandy, an avid Gaiman fan, remarked that Coraline was as “hollow as the dolls it portrays.” Essentially, a shallow animated remake of the vastly superior Pan's Labyrinth, the scenes voiced by the dynamic British comedic due Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French offer the few entertaining moments of the film. You're better off staying home and reading the original book.
Animation 9/10 Story 5/10
As any geek knows, 1966 and 1977 were important years that both informed and divided a nation. In the former, Star Trek beamed into the American consciousness, launching perhaps the most loyal and rabid group of fandom. Eleven years later, George Lucas, relying on dazzling special effects and the remodeled film serials of his childhood, captured the hearts of an entire generation of eager fans with Star Wars. Since that moment, the camps have engaged in a ceaseless, nonsensical war for geek supremacy. Kyle Newman's insightful and charming film Fanboys brings the battle to the big screen.
In 1998, five former high school friends take the ultimate road trip to George Lucas' fabled Skywalker Ranch to steal an early print of the long awaited Star Wars Episode One. Along the way they encounter Trekkies... sorry... Trekkers, in several what are bound to become classic geek film moments. With an excellent cast (including the adorable Kristen Bell) and geek cameos galore (William Shatner, Seth Rogan, Billy Dee Williams, Kevin Smith, and Carrie Fisher), Newman successfully incorporates all this and many of varieties of geekdom into a throughly enjoyable road trip film. Fanboys is a MUST SEE geek film.
Even with the high geek quotient, perhaps the best part of Fanboys is that it can be enjoyed by the non-hardcore geek as well. There are plenty of genuinely humorous moments. So, it's safe to bring your not-as-geeky S.O. to the film.
My review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is now available at Revolution SF.
As in the seminal Raiders of the Lost Ark, the relationship between Indy and Marion drives the story. Their ceaseless bickering never tires, though disappointingly often interrupted by the abundance of action. The absence of this interaction weakened both the dreadful Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the excellent Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This latest adventure all but destroys George Lucas's contention that featuring a different leading lady in each Indy story strengthened the series. Any Indiana Jones project without Marion Ravenwood immediately begins with a handicap.
Also in the current Austin Chronicle is my review of Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection.
By way of 1930s movie serials, exotic locales, and witty scripts, the Indiana Jones films introduced one of the most popular and exciting action heroes of the 20th century. The whip-wielding archaeologist Indiana Jones, portrayed by the rakish Harrison Ford, challenged world-dominating Nazis and power-hungry Kali worshippers through three highly successful, rousing adventures: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). In anticipation of the fourth installment, Paramount has reissued the three movies as Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection, available separately or as a set.
The latest issue of The Austin Chronicle contains my feature on the unique internet movie review site, Spill.
Like most weeks over the past six years, Martin Thomas, C. Robert Cargill, Chris Cox, and Korey Coleman gather to record their movie discussions. But now, instead of weekly Austin cable-access show The Reel Deal, they bring their act – equal parts critique, comedy troupe, and sideshow – to the Internet as a series of animated shorts under the moniker Spill.
The first in a new series of single-take review videos from the tireless Jeff Vandermeer.
In this installment, Jeff reviews Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, Brian Talbot’s Alice in Sunderland, Nicola Griffith’s And Now We Are Going to Have a Party (from the amazing Payseur & Schmidt), and the Star Wars Pop-Up Book.
