Blogcritics Category: Video: Fantasy

My Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2009

Arlo J. Wiley — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 16:29:40 EST

Boy wizards, undead monsters, and Inglourious Basterds.
Right now, 2009 remains a blank slate, untouched, full of promise. January is the graveyard month, during which studios drop mostly movies they don't care about, so it won't take long for the new year to become sullied. I'm thinking that this weekend's triple threat of Bride Wars, The Unborn, and Not Easily Broken are gonna get...

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Thu, 8 Jan 2009 16:29:40 EST

Movie Review: The Spirit (2008)

Chris Beaumont — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 06:55:17 EST

This must be what it is like to make comic panels move.
Here is a movie that I so very badly wanted to love. I love what Robert Rodriguez did with Sin City, not to mention what Zack Snyder did with 300. I felt fairly certain that Frank Miller could get something into similar territory when he stepped behind the camera for the first time by himself. No, I was not expecting The Spirit to be as good as Sin...

Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Todd Ford — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 16:13:26 EST

His tragedy is watching those he loves age normally, without him.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a movie about chance. It is about the incidents that shape a life. It is about the incidents that almost shape a life. It is about how timing determines which is which. And it is about all of these, brilliantly.Button uses indelible period detail, burnished and polished, to tell the tale of Benjamin, a...

Movie Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Louis Boram — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 06:49:10 EST

Traveler's check...
Wobbly sounding dual theremins engaging upon initial liftoff, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) has just as much cosmic resonance -- the 21st century’s emotionless Keanu Reeves and global warming themes notwithstanding -- as it did at the Cold War’s outset some 50-plus years ago. Pleasingly, fighting a war of an altogether different...

Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Chris Beaumont — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 20:23:34 EST

Poetic, beautiful, and requires multiple viewings.
In 1921, F. Scott Fitzgerald published a short story called "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." It was a tale of a child born with the body of an old man. As the child grew up his body grew younger. In the story, Benjamin's father forced his young, er, old son to disguise himself, so as to appear younger and help avoid...

Movie Review: Bedtime Stories

Chris Beaumont — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 13:17:55 EST

Pleasant experience. Not terribly memorable, but enjoyable while it unfolded.
As Adam Sandler moves into his forties, it's becoming just a bit more difficult for him to continue playing the man-child characters that aided him in his rise to fame from Saturday Night Live through his film output in the 1990s. It appears that the days of Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, and The Water Boy are behind him. Since the year 2000...

DVD Review: Hunter x Hunter - Volume One

Bill Sherman — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 02:32:46 EST

The first fifteen episodes of the anime action fantasy get a boxed set release.
To begin with the "x" in Hunter x Hunter does not appear to be spoken aloud -- as either "ex" or as "times," which is how I first read it. But from the way, the voice artist playing Gon reads each "x"-strewn chapter ("Encounter x Hesitation x Departure," for instance) on the first boxed set of...

Capsule Reviews: Oodles of TV On DVD from CBS/Paramount

Luigi Bastardo — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 15:34:49 EST

Adam Becvar (aka Luigi Bastardo) checks out seven different TV shows on DVD ranging from campy to classic.
I love movies. I love watching TV, too. I admit it -- I’m an addict. But I’m not worried about it because I’m happy, dammit! But sometimes, my eagerness to watch everything that hits the shelves of the store turns around at a lightning-fast speed and takes a large bite out of my ass. When this sort of catastrophe occurs (and...

Movie Review: Hancock

Amanda Banker — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 15:04:22 EST

A love story of super-human size.
I’m more than a bird…I’m more than a planeI'm more than some pretty face beside a trainIt’s not easy to be me. -- "Superman," Five for FightingAs per usual, I am about three months behind the rest of America in my viewing of the latest and greatest. Will Smith’s superhero epic, Hancock, came to...

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Sat, 3 Jan 2009 15:04:22 EST

Movie Review: Bedtime Stories (2008)

Tall Writer — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 14:23:00 EST

This holiday season a familiar comedy star tries to finagle his way into the family comedy genre in Disney�s Bedtime Stories.
Hotel maintenance man Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler) always had his hands in the hotel business thanks to the guidance of his father Marty (Jonathan Pryce). Skeeter grows into a whimsical, dedicated worker while his imaginative dreams took a back seat to adulthood responsibilities. This experienced host accomplished with several hospitality duties...