Search for 2016

When it comes to modern science fiction schlock, no TV network is more closely associated with the genre than Syfy. With titles like Megapiranha, Rage of the Yeti, Mongolian Death Worm, and Man with the Screaming Brain dotting the viewing sche...

The Red Turtle is one of the most unique high profile animated films to have come along in recent years and in a way represents a repudiation of the commercial arm of the genre. Lacking even a line of dialogue and using hand-drawn images, The Red Tur...

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Perhaps those words don’t mean as much as they did a couple of decades ago but they still have the capacity to raise goose bumps. And, although Rogue One, the first so-called &ldqu...

Rules Don’t Apply is a strange, schizophrenic sort of movie. Despite moments of emotional strength and bursts of quirky comedy, the film is undone by its generally lethargic tone and the film’s insistence to shift its focus from the putat...

About 20 minutes into The Secret Life of Pets, an entertaining but inconsequential animated movie, I was struck by a powerful feeling of déjà vu. It didn’t take long for me to ascertain the cause. The Secret of Pets is pretty much...

The Shallows is almost a good movie. It misses by this much (hold thumb and index finger apart by an inch). For 75 of its 85 minutes, it’s a gripping woman-against-nature tale with tough, determined Nancy (Blake Lively) facing her own infirmiti...

Spoilers Ahoy! This isn’t the kind of narratively-driven movie where spoilers make a great difference to the overall experience but, in order to provide an analysis of Silence, I have opted to talk about some key plot points that occur late in ...

In subject matter as much as in artwork style, A Silent Voice illustrates the wide gulf that separates Japanese anime from traditional American animation. Not in a million years would Disney approach this material. Animation in the United Stat...

Sing, the final major animated film of 2016, can be described using six words: great soundtrack, generic story and artwork. After enjoying Disney/Pixar’s strong animated slate this year (Zootopia, Finding Dory, Moana) with Focus’ Kubo and...

Sing Street is John Carney’ Valentine to the people and places of his youth and the varied and oft-maligned music that defined the 1980s. Carney infuses the familiar framework of the “coming of age” story with songs and whimsy and a touc...