Acorny I cannot recall which of the previous I liked and why. It may have been the story that included the telling of a story. But that depends on coherence, and what have here are several sties or skits smeared into each other. There are the obligatory Scrat sequences that give some relief from the… Continue reading Ice Age 5: Collision Course (2016)
Category: New Comments
Comments made since the IMBD era, for here
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Head Space I really disliked the first one. The world building, in retrospect, was very impressive, building on a number of strong cinematic conventions that were ripe for evolution. But all the backstory and parallel plots, all the character development was within a single testosterone paradigm. I thought it a one-note elaboration on something dumb.… Continue reading Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
The Hunger Games (2012)
More Games, Less Hunger I am seeing this a second time with pre teenagers, close to the target market for the books I assume. I think for them, the film is serviceable and as they see the series the plot complications will be engaging. But it reminds me of a persistent challenge in film and… Continue reading The Hunger Games (2012)
Unmistakable Child (2008)
Unputdownable Tulku If you have not seen this, it documents from the cremation of a senior Buddhist monk to the certification of his reincarnation by the hierarchy though to the Dalai Lama, and subsequent installation in a monastery at about three. We follow the quest by the old monk’s most loyal follower, a dear soul.… Continue reading Unmistakable Child (2008)
To Sleep So As to Dream (1986)
Mysterious Silences As my readers know, I study folding in film; when films have parallel positions for the viewer as supported by the construction of the thing. Usually, this is a fluid contract between filmmaker and viewer that requires deeper engagement. I like these in part because I literally fold my life into certain films,… Continue reading To Sleep So As to Dream (1986)
War Games (1983)
Winken and Blinken There is less reason to see this now than when it was made, except for the lesson that is more clear here than in current filmdom: how do you cinematically convey concepts that don’t fit our fairly limited vocabulary? The lesson here is stark, only because we have greater familiarity with computers… Continue reading War Games (1983)
Jim Hanvey Detective (1937)
Straw Dogs You can do better than watching most current movies by noodling around with old detective movies from the 30’s. They are generally not very good, but collectively they defined the base for our most common idiom. This one, thankfully, has no racist comedy player. It does depend on colourful characters and is staged… Continue reading Jim Hanvey Detective (1937)