Wandavision (2021)
Experience a new vision of reality.
Filmmaker(s): Martin Ťapák
Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
13 May Turning Red (2022)
Transitions When narrative transitions occur, they sometimes follow the world and seem smooth, or they try and engineer the future and are jagged. I think this is the latter. Superficially, this film extends the Disney effort to cover all ethnicities with princess characters. It makes...
Christopher Robin (2018)
Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing.
Filmmaker(s): Marc Forster
Christopher Robin, the boy who had countless adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood, has grown up and lost his way. Now it’s up to his spirited and loveable stuffed animals, Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and the rest of the gang, to rekindle their friendship and remind him of endless days of childlike wonder and make-believe, when doing nothing was the very best something.
13 May Christopher Robin (2018)
Stuck in the Box The story is conventional Disney, and in the trend of expanding the reach of established properties, with as little actual drama as possible. Three things are notable to me. This was shot on video, with a deliberate nod to cheap TeeVee...
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Rise up.
Filmmaker(s): Steven S. DeKnight
It has been ten years since The Battle of the Breach and the oceans are still, but restless. Vindicated by the victory at the Breach, the Jaeger program has evolved into the most powerful global defense force in human history. The PPDC now calls upon the best and brightest to rise up and become the next generation of heroes when the Kaiju threat returns.
13 May 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...
The Hunger Games (2012)
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Filmmaker(s): Gary Ross
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. The world will be watching.
13 May 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...
The Illusionist (2006)
Nothing is what it seems
Filmmaker(s): Neil Burger
With his eye on a lovely aristocrat, a gifted illusionist named Eisenheim uses his powers to win her away from her betrothed, a crown prince. But Eisenheim's scheme creates tumult within the monarchy and ignites the suspicion of a dogged inspector.
13 May The Illusionist (2006)
Flight Club We know what’s coming with this and we even know how. At least I think most viewers will. It is a con movie, but with more explicit folding. In the usual con genre, there is a mark who is fooled along with us...
To Sleep So As to Dream (1986)
Filmmaker(s): Kaizo Hayashi
An aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter.
13 May 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...
Frankenstein (1910)
Filmmaker(s): J. Searle Dawley
Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée; but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster.
13 May Frankenstein (1910)
The Witch’s Looking-glass I’m putting this on my list of films you must see. It is short and at first glance completely uninteresting. But look again. Here’s what happens: Young Frankenstein goes to college where he discovers the secret of life. Interesting that the filmmakers...
Jack and the Beanstalk (1902)
Filmmaker(s): Edwin S. Porter, George S. Fleming
Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of the famous fairy tale story of Jack and his magic beanstalk. Borrowing on cinematographic methods reminiscent of 'Georges Melies' , Porter uses animation, double exposure, and trick photography to illustrate the fairy's apparitions, Jack's dream, and the fast growing beanstalk.
