Movie Review: Brave

View the video version here.

If nothing else, Brave will stand as a fine example of Pixar’s willingness to try something new, or at least new to them. Once thought of as the male alternative to Disney Animation, due to their lineup of films about more generally boyish subjects, Brave finds them taking on the more traditional fairytale princess formula. It’s an unexpected & exciting move for Pixar, and under the direction of Brenda Chapman, who brought us the excellent Prince of Egypt, it had all the makings of a classic. Which is why it’s a shame it’s not a lot better. Not that it’s bad, far from it. Pixar doesn’t do BAD movies. All the same this is as perilously close to “mediocre” they’ve come since A Bug’s Life.

America to Once Again Miss the Point of Judge Dredd

I'm fond of saying that the 1995 Stallone vehicle Judge Dredd is proof that Americans are idiots, because it completely fails to grasp that the British comic it was adapting was a parody of American action films. From the looks of it, this new version hasn't learned that lesson either.

Anarchy at the Movies: Snow White & the Huntsman/Prometheus

Been falling behind lately. Here's a twofer to make up for it.

Movie Review: Prometheus

(Author's Note: My new job has me quite busy, and while it does allow me the ability to see many more new releases than I did when I was broke with nothing but time on my hands, it also makes it harder to get these made in a timely fashion. That's why I release these as written reviews ahead of time, just so you guys have SOMETHING.)

When the fuck did it become so hard for Ridley Scott to find decent writers? Seriously, since when does a guy with this kind clout end of with such shitty scripts to work with? Between this & Robin Hood, I'm beginning to think the guy doesn't even read his own movies anymore and just focuses on making them look pretty.

You see, like everything else Scott's made in the last few years, Prometheus is an absolutely gorgeous film. Beautiful set pieces, breathtaking cinematography, truly immersive especially in 3D...all of which fails to conceal the fact that the movie is just not very good. It doesn't really work as a prequel to Alien (oh yeah, spoiler alert, Prometheus is a prequel to Alien) in fact at times it feels more like a remake; a dumber yet paradoxically more ambitious remake but a remake nonetheless.