Pigs and birds unite to fight a common foe in a sequel notable for Leslie Jones’s voice. An animated sequel inspired by an iPhone app isn’t, I’ll concede, the most promising movie premise, but the second instalment in the Angry Birds series is much funnier and flappier than it needs to be. In 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie, […]
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The Mouse King reinvents a holiday classic, minus the romance and much of the dance, resulting in a movie with little beneath its stunningly designed surface. Conceived just a smidge over two centuries ago, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 short story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” has been told and retold so many times over the […]
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The top-grossing Chinese animated film of all time, about a demon-child superkid, proves that the blockbuster style is flowing around the globe. It’s not unusual to encounter an animated tale in which the hero is an incorrigible child (just look at “Boss Baby” or the Teen Titans). But the title character of “Ne Zha” is […]
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Folks, I just made the biggest mistake of watching “The Lion King” remake, which came out in July, and I will let everyone know how much I loathe this remake. Disney continues to underwhelm with another botched remake of an animated classic, this time remaking the favorite 1994 classic, “The Lion King” in a CG […]
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In his Oscar nominated performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp swanned through the first Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) with enough wicked zest to make you forget the film was a bloated crock. The flab extends to the overlong (two hours and thirty minutes) sequel, but mostly in the dawdling setup. A pirate could braid his […]
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For his adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, Steven Spielberg joined with screenwriter Melissa Mathison again, who worked with him on “E.T.” almost 35 years ago. Another story of an unlikely friendship, “The BFG,” released in 2016, is even more incredible and serious, and also relying heavily on effects. However, it’s also highly involving, with […]
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My brother and I went to see “Toy Story 4” tonight, which came out almost three weeks ago. Originally, this was supposed to be released last year and “Incredibles 2” was supposed to be released this year. However, after test screening “Toy Story 4,” Tom Hanks said in an interview that the audience at the […]
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I know I am part of an infinitesimal minority, but I wish Hollywood would consider a one-year moratorium on superhero films. Between all the origin stories, the sequels, the spinoffs, the spoofs and the too-soon reboots, I have had my fill of big-name actors in ridiculous outfits allowing their stunt doubles or digital stand-ins to save […]
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Guy Ritchie’s adaptation is lively, colourful and genuinely funny – making only judicious tweaks to the original, it’s thankfully not a whole new world. The scimitars are out for Disney’s live-action Aladdin, what with the enduring fondness for the original (not least Robin Williams’ Genie) and the botched unveiling of Will Smith as his successor […]
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Adam Sandler and his spooky pals take a “Summer Vacation” and remind us all of the power of acceptance and understanding. Even on a good day, it’s easy to feel like America has turned into a horror movie, where the terrors of “The Purge” franchise feel all too real outside of the theater. The need […]
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