C. S. Lewis’s second venture into Narnia, Prince Caspian, is sandwiched between two popular favorites, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Coming between the formidable creative and allegorical achievement of the former and the bracing, poetic odyssey of the latter, Lewis’s second effort is perhaps something of an awkward middle child.
Among the many happy accidents that make Casablanca what it is, perhaps the most ironic is this: Humphrey Bogart wouldn’t meet his ultimate leading lady, Lauren Bacall, until the following year, on the set of Casablanca knockoff To Have and Have Not.
Even Pixar has never attempted anything on a canvas of this scale. From Monsters, Inc.’s corporate culture to Finding Nemo’s submarine suburbia, previous Pixar films have never strayed too far from the rhythms of real life. … WALL‑E creates a world that, despite clear connections to contemporary culture, looks and feels nothing like life as we know it, with unprecedented dramatic and philosophical scope.
Aardman fans rejoice! Shaun the sheep, a supporting character in Wallace & Gromit’s third amazing adventure, A Close Shave, has his own spin-off series on British television — and now eight of Shaun’s brief adventures are available on Region 1 DVD in Shaun the Sheep – Off the Baa, available alone or bundled with Three Amazing Adventures.
Keaton fans rejoice! The General is now available from Kino in a two-disc “ultimate edition” with a range of extras.
Bigger effects and badder creatures make Del Toro’s second take on Hellboy more entertaining than the original, but something’s still missing in the story of the super hero from hell.
Newly restored and remastered in high definition for Paramount’s new Centennial Collection series, Roman Holiday is now available in a fine two-disc edition with a variety of special features.
Along with Roman Holiday, Sabrina has been newly restored and remastered in high definition for Paramount’s Centennial Collection series, and is offered in a two-disc edition with a variety of special features.
Kung Fu Panda is available on DVD either singly or bundled with a bonus disc, Secrets of the Furious Five. A half-hour follow-up to Kung Fu Panda combining computer animation with hand-drawn sequences, Secrets of the Furious Five is an enjoyable morality tale that casts Po in the unexpected role of teacher to a kung-fu class of young bunnies.
The people have spoken! The Grinch is a hit!
So who cares if some critic writes critical crit?
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is worth seeing in the company of any American girl young enough to watch a G-rated movie in which the protagonist wants to be a reporter rather than get a makeover, become a pop princess or get the cute boy. If you can get away without shelling out for the matching dress, so much the better.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is the third intriguing nature documentary of 2005, a charming sleeper hit that focuses like March of the Penguins on the life challenges faced by a population of exotic birds, and also, like Grizzly Man, on an eccentric California man’s intimate involvement in their lives.
Let the record show that the makers of The Incredible Hulk want it clearly understood that their film is not, repeat not, a sequel to Hulk of 2003, Ang Lee’s arty and ambitious but unpopular take on the comic-book movie.
4 Months, like previous Romanian export The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, compels us not to avert our eyes. Even though the actual events remain out of sight — apart from a single, indelible shot not unlike images seen in some types of pro-life materials — its confrontation of the unmentionable is no less devastating.
A worthy successor to the early classics Snow White and Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty is the one great fairy-tale adaptation of Disney’s post-war period, outshining Cinderella and unrivaled until 1991’s Best-Picture candidate Beauty and the Beast.
Smart, sardonic and more than a little silly, Iron Man is a successful super-hero movie that never takes itself too seriously.
Shrek the Third continues the deliberate bad taste that is the franchise’s hallmark, with the usual hit-and-miss results… What’s missing is the heart that leavened the first two films.
Not the best or most exciting of comic-book movies to date, but the most thoughtful and arguably one of the most interesting, Ang Lee’s Hulk offers a new look at Marvel Comics’s green-skinned Jekyll-and-Hyde pulp anti-hero through the director’s poetic, psychologically attuned sensibilities.