
Mirai movie review: and baby ruins everything
This tenderly animated Japanese film about sibling rivalry is lovely with its fantasy, but too convoluted for children and too slight for adults.
handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
This tenderly animated Japanese film about sibling rivalry is lovely with its fantasy, but too convoluted for children and too slight for adults.
Appalling and sadistic. How can anyone who is not a sociopath look at this horrible attempt at feel-good fantasy and say, “This is fine, this is healthy”?
What if the Earl of Grantham had never been born? Chaos at Downton Abbey, is what.
U.S. AND CANADA/OPENING WIDE The Twilight Saga: Eclipse: A girl with no personality is unable to choose between the vampire she loves and the werewolf she loves. The invisible man was heartbroken. If you can’t make it to the multiplex, try: • Hard Candy (2005): For a much better exploraton from director David Slade of … more…
U.S. AND CANADA/OPENING WIDE Shrek Forever After: Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Puss square off against the evil tyrant Rumpelstiltskin. Scary. [trailer] review to come If you can’t make it to the multiplex, try: • Shrek 2 (2004): Still the best in the series, with one of the greatest character intros ever (for Puss in Boots). … more…
Today’s QOTD comes from reader/commenter doa766, who wonders: What movies do you find offensive that no one else does? Or, What movies do you see as offering a terrible message but no one else seems to notice it? doa766 continues: For example, I always thought the first Narnia movie was one the most offensive movies … more…
The Online Film Critics Society, in our weekly survey, this week picked our favorite Christmas movies. It’s a Wonderful Life came out on top — as some of you may know, I am not a fan of It’s a Wonderful Life. My top five Christmas favorites, as I voted the OFCS survey: A Christmas Story … more…
Today’s question comes from reader Dardo, who writes: I always thought the first Narnia movie was one the most offensive movies ever made, with Santa Claus giving a knife to a six year old girl so she can go to war, and a group of children marching to war with no training or any military … more…
May I suggest, for our holiday dining, that we eat the rich:
So, when I attended a screening on November 14, I was already primed for *Bad Santa,* the meanest, curmudgeonliest, blackest holiday movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen most of ’em. It’s like, How much more black could it be? And the answer is None, none more black. I haven’t laughed at film this hard all year, and maybe not last year, either. And much of that laughter sprung from shock: I spent half the film saying to myself, ‘Holy crap, I can’t believe they did that!’ and ‘They did *not* just do that!’ It’s hard to be shocking in the era of the Farrelly Brothers, but *Bad Santa* is shocking partly because it’s so unrepentant and unapologetic. There’s no attempt to infuse the film with heart or soul or sweetness or light. *Bad Santa* unrelentingly twisted. And that’s just wonderful.