My Neighbor Totoro [Tonari no Totoro] is Hayao Miyazaki at his very best. Subtlety is clearly Miyazaki’s friend, even though Totoro presents a typical mix of his eco motives and fantastical creatures the film feels light as a feather. It’s the ideal children’s film (it even works when they can’t understand a single word that’s […]
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HBO’s adaptation of George RR Martin’s fantasy series begins with an action-packed episode that introduces the huge cast. Spoiler alert: Don’t read on if you haven’t watched the first episode of Game of Thrones on Sky Atlantic. For the purposes of this blog we are also going to (hopefully) try and avoid book spoilers as well. It’s […]
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New version of Jack London’s classic man-meets-dog adventure digitizes its canine hero—and loses something vital in the process Harrison Ford and a CGI-generated dog star in the latest screen adaptation of Jack London’s classic 1903 adventure novel. There have been movie adaptations of Jack London’s classic 1903 novel The Call of the Wild dating as far back […]
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Puss in Boots is an adventure movie, but the advertising and the film’s first act would like you to believe otherwise. The filmmakers can’t be held responsible for DreamWorks Animation’s marketing campaign, but they can take the blame for setting up their movie as an action-comedy before choosing to drop the jokes and shifting into a […]
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At last the full arc is visible, and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy comes into final focus. I admire it more as a whole than in its parts. The second film was inconclusive, and lost its way in the midst of spectacle. But “Return of the King” dispatches its characters to their destinies with […]
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