In our current movie climate, the automatic response to a movie doing well financially is for the studio to immediately begin work on a sequel, whether or not there’s any creative reason to do so. For god’s sake, a Spring Breakers sequel is in development right now, and even the original’s biggest star rallying against … Continue reading Movie Review – HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2
Oh DreamWorks Animation, what will we do with you? It’s clear that you’re trying so hard to reinvent yourselves, to take that genuine affection people have for How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda and recreate it in your other films. In some ways you’re getting REALLY close, but you just can’t stop … Continue reading Movie Review – Mr. Peabody & Sherman
In the past, I’ve briefly touched on my theory that nearly every year since 2008* DreamWorks Animation has had a pretty consistent streak of one good movie and one bad movie. 2008 had Kung Fu Panda and then it had Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, 2010 had How to Train Your Dragon and then there was … Continue reading Movie Review – Turbo
The X-Men film series is definitely one with a hit-or-miss track record. Bryan Singer’s original film was a defining moment in creating the current pop culture landscape, but unfortunately it hasn’t aged terribly well. The black leather uniforms, the action, and major portions of the plot feel distinctly like relics of the late ’90s/early 2000s, … Continue reading Movie Review – The Wolverine
There’s sort of a hierarchy when it comes to the major North American animation studios. At the top, obviously, is Pixar Animation Studios who, despite a few recent missteps, has consistently maintained the best quality over the last 20 years. Next up is probably DreamWorks Animation who uses the law of averages to their advantage … Continue reading Movie Review – Epic
DreamWorks Animation and I have a long, complicated relationship. I’ve always been a dyed-in-the-wool Disney fan and an ardent supporter of Pixar, and I’ve generally felt that DreamWorks makes a somewhat second-rate product compared to Pixar. I enjoyed Shrek just like everyone else did, but after four sequels and a spin-off of diminishing returns I … Continue reading Movie Review – The Croods
I was fully expecting A Good Day to Die Hard to be terrible. The last film, Live Free or Die Hard, was awful; none of the previous work of either director John Moore (Max Payne) or screenwriter Skip Woods (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) inspired confidence; and the trailers did nothing to convince me that the film had any chance … Continue reading Movie Review – A Good Day to Die Hard
David Daut 