Strange Magic movie review: bad spell
Apparently this was inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but it has about as much in common with that as Burger King does with Macbeth.
Month: May 2015
London photos: sci-fi greenhouse
The longer I walked around the Barbican Conservatory, the more I began to feel like I was in the greenhouse on a space station…
Where Are the Women? Moomins on the Riviera
The female characters adhere to gender stereotypes and maleness is the default. This cartoon is mired in the 1950s era of the comic strip it is based on. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Moomins on the Riviera movie review: really old-fashioned adventure
The hand-drawn animation is serene and charming, but the story and characters are so unpleasantly retrograde that I found little enjoyment here.
London photo: alien plants
More alien-looking plants at the Barbican Conservatory.
Where Are the Women? Poltergeist
A comparison with the 1982 original makes it easy to demonstrate how much movies have given themselves over to men’s journeys in recent decades. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Poltergeist movie review: they’re here (remakes, that is)
If you have any inclination to see this, just rewatch the original. You will lose nothing, and you’ll have a far better time.
London photos: hothouse flowers
Far from just walling in London plant life of, the Barbican Conservatory is full of alien-seeming organisms that could never survive in the city outside.
Where Are the Women? Tomorrowland
An adventurous female coprotagonist and a fascinating little-girl supporting character add up to representation of young women rarely seen in studio films. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Tomorrowland (aka Tomorrowland: A World Beyond) movie review: back to the future
It gets a tad heavy-handed, but my eyes welled with tears of geeky joy at the film’s embrace of an optimism it steadfastly refuses to see as old-fashioned.
