A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.
Your Local Manager came to this with kids, not knowing anything. The story is ordinary, with features borrowed from a familiar bucket. But it had energy, massive energy in more than one dimension. The title character, the city backgrounds, and most particularly the camera —...
Bolt is the star of the biggest show in Hollywood. The only problem is, he thinks it's real. After he's accidentally shipped to New York City and separated from Penny, his beloved co-star and owner, Bolt must harness all his "super powers" to find a way home.
Locked Door is a children‘s film in the modern mould. That means it has to have cinematic values that affect and impress, and at the same time sport an acceptable message. Usually it about the value of family and finding self; here it is both....
A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.
Three, Five, Eight seen to be only eight ways for humans to reference themselves. Only 5 are considered possible though I have encountered six I believe. Rarely, three are present here. Robert Downey Jr is an actor on-screen. We never lose sight that it is he....
After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
The Illusionist and the Ventriloquist things about this film intrigue me: the novel integrated talents of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. We are creatures who depend on idea fragments in everything we do. Virtually everything is a rehash, sometimes creative but mostly not. When someone or...
Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.
<strong>Reverse Ventriloquism am roughly the same age as Scott and Coppola and still producing. I’m going to visit their creations out of loyal admiration as much as anything. But also inspiration, because I am pulled between two extremes they represent. Coppola is an intellectual intuitive...
Six months into a solo mission, a lonely astronaut confronts the cracks in his marriage with help from a mysterious creature he discovers on his ship.
Eclipsed ‘2001’ was so good in different ways that it has become appreciated for incidental qualities instead of the filmmaker’s intent. What he explored in basically all his films after this period was the relationship among ‘truth’, and how it is carried by the surrounding...
A rich man learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes. He sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling.
Shifting of Equalities have all watched as Wes moved more and more toward where he finds his soul as a storyteller — a constant movement toward what we have here, powerful enough to earn a place on my list of ‘fours’. Depending on when you...
Writing with Tea on Oranges is just about perfect for what it is, and what it is elevates it to something that can change you. Life is a matter of stories and also about reflection on self. So all true stories are in some way at...
The story of British officer T.E. Lawrence's mission to aid the Arab tribes in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Lawrence becomes a flamboyant, messianic figure in the cause of Arab unity but his psychological instability threatens to undermine his achievements.
A Vision that Defines Itself man has an inner drive that makes him peculiar and intense. He goes to the desert and falls in love with it and its people. Gaining powerful sponsors, he has a grand vision that he accomplishes by inspiring and directing...
Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for 20 years, only to find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately.
Parallel Futures creating my own list of favourites, I put this at the top of my SciFi category. But that was based on viewing a long time ago. So I rented it recently and was shocked. Times have changed, and science fiction depends so much...