This post is part of The Month of Animated Features Before I spend a month writing about it, I figure I should explain what animation means to me and why I find it so appealing. “Animated movie” is often regarded as a genre, much like comedy or drama. In reality, animation is a style rather…
As I revealed in my previous post, I’m focusing my efforts during July on learning and writing about animated films. I’ll probably start with some overview and history of animation, then shift into some features and analysis, and finish the month with a few culminating posts, with reviews mixed in. You can use this post…
Rating: **** (out of 4) Sorry, Shutter Island. Toy Story 3 is my favorite movie I’ve seen this year, and it’s not even close. I’m an unashamed Pixar fanboy, so you should probably take my reactions with a grain of salt. But here is my attempt to persuade you to see Pixar’s latest masterpiece, in…
The Spider-Man reboot is currently casting, and director Marc Webb is on record as going for an actor much lower profile than Tobey Maguire to take the titular, masked role. Sci-fi blog io9 suggested that the next Spidey be a non-caucasian. Some commenters threw out the name Donald Glover from the TV show Community and…
Culminating the recent stretch of graduation/high school/transition period movies reviewed with the best film of the ‘Your whole life is ahead of you, but what do you do?’ genre I’ve seen. Rating: 4 stars (out of 4) Garden State was the first movie I ever loved. It was the first film I remember seeing that…
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 4) There’s not a teen movie made after Fast Times at Ridgemont High that doesn’t owe its existence to it, and there hasn’t been one since that’s any better. Fast Times captures the spirit of high school in ways that most movies about teenagers don’t even bother to try, which…
Rating: 3 stars (out of 4) When I finished Dazed and Confused the first time, I didn’t really know what I thought of it. But after some reflection and a second viewing, I understand its goals and can see how skillfully it achieves them. Dazed follows nobody’s rules. It’s flawed, unconventional, funny, and completely outrageous. …
[out of four stars] Toy Story (1995) – 4 stars A Bug’s Life (1998) – 3.5 stars Toy Story 2 (1999) – 4 stars Monsters, Inc. (2001) – 4 stars Finding Nemo (2003) – 4 stars The Incredibles (2004) – 4 stars Cars (2006) – 2.5 stars Ratatouille (2007) – 4 stars WALL•E (2008) –…
Rating: 3 and a half stars (out of 4) There are times when I forget why I love movies so much. Reading movies closely can be a chore. An enjoyable chore that I have a passion for, but a chore nonetheless. And then there are times when I walk out of a theater with a…
Rating: 4 stars (out of 4) Bull Durham is far and away the best sports movie of all-time, but I hate to classify it as much because it’s also so much more. It’s a great romantic comedy, a very funny movie, a very poignant movie, and when all put together, an exceptional piece of art. …