film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
The YA dystopia is now just another fantasy setting for teen romance. We have normalized the apocalypse. Superpowered kids are being held in concentration camps, but OMG, will Ruby and Liam get together?!
Why does this children’s book of a film morph, after a delightful, beautifully observed, feline-biographical opening, into a gangster crime story?
Here’s an at-a-glance look at my picks for tomorrow night’s Academy Awards…
Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Thor, Green Lantern, X-Men, Captain America, etc. This is what 2011 looks like at the movies. In what way can it be construed that young men are “endangered” at the box office?
It’s shame that Kung Fu Panda 2 isn’t really much of an expression of Jennifer Yu Nelson-ness and is very much an expression of Big Corporate Cartoon Franchise-ness.
“Inner peace, you’re goin’ down!” –Po (the voice of Jack Black), and more…
If Terrence Malick can instruct projectionists on how to project Tree of Life, why couldn’t someone do the same for Kung Fu Panda 2?
What saves this from feeling like it should have gone direct to video is the animation, which is breathtakingly beautiful: this fantasy ancient China is gorgeously designed…
There will be no living with The Hangover Part II now: It had the biggest opening weekend ever and the second biggest ever for an R-rated film. But is this just a fluke for Hollywood in a year that’s been way down at the box office?
This looks pretty okay: not one single fart joke in the trailer.
