Monsters Inc. was the fourth feature film to be released by animation giant Pixar. A critical and commercial success, it has taken over 10 years for the follow-up to be released in the form of a prequel Monsters University. Reuniting the original cast along with newcomer Dan Scanlon as director it is the fourteenth film released by Pixar. … [Read more...]
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) review by That Film Guy
When JJ Abrams announced that he was going to reboot the Star Trek franchise, few could have imagined just how spectacularly he would have succeeded. Taking the term 'reboot' seriously, he created an alternative timeline in which the established narrative could be bent, modified and in some cases obliterated. Star Trek Into Darkness builds upon this idea and presents a … [Read more...]
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) review by That Film Guy
Very loosely based on Judi and Ron Barrett's children's book of the same name, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a Sony Pictures Animation. During release it became the highest-grossing film released by the animation house taking over $240m at the box office. It represents the directing debut of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who rose to prominence after directing successful … [Read more...]
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) review by That Film Guy
In the continuing trend of fairytale to film adaptations comes the Bryan Singer directed Jack the Giant Slayer. In this case it's a retelling of the English folk tale of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk, but with the location moved to a pseudo-Arthurian fantasy land. Young farmhand Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is sent to the town of Cloister by his uncle to sell an old horse and cart, but … [Read more...]
The Croods (2013) review by That Film Guy
The Croods, billed as ˜from the makers of Ice Age' should tell you everything you need to know about Dreamworks latest animated film. The prehistoric mega-franchise that spawned so many sequels and made millions of dollars would obviously inspire pretenders and similarly themed films. Dreamworks, those responsible are clearly looking for a new franchise to take over from the … [Read more...]
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) review by That Film Guy
The sequel to the moderate successful, but critically panned Fantastic Four was released in 2007 and reunited the original cast and director Tim Story. Drawing influence from a number of classic stories from the original comic book run, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer takes the action from New York to London to outer space, taking $289m from a budget of $130m along … [Read more...]
Fantastic Four (2005) review by That Film Guy
Based on one of Marvel Comics longest running title, Fantastic Four was released in 2005 and was the third major studio comic book release of the year following Batman Begins and Elektra. Directed by Tim Story it took over $330m at the box office from a budget of $100m making it a mild commercial success. … [Read more...]
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) review by That Film Guy
In 1939 MGM gave us The Wizard of Oz, the iconic tale of Dorothy, Toto, red slippers, yellow bricks road and the Emerald City. Forty-six years later, an unofficial sequel came to us in 1985 in the form of Return to Oz, a much darker twist ion the classic Oz tale. And now in 2013 Disney and Sam Raimi have brought the tale full circle by giving us a prequel. Oz the Great and … [Read more...]
Kindergarten Cop (1990) review by That Film Doctor
The 10 years between 1985 and 1995 were probably Arnold Schwarzenegger's finest years. Starting with Commando, he then went on to do some of the finest action films ever put to celluloid, including The Running Man, Total Recall, Terminator 2 and True Lies. His penchant for comedy also saw him team up with his aesthetically antithetical actor, Danny DeVito in Twins, another … [Read more...]
Monsters, Inc. (2001) review by The Documentalist
The fourth feature from Pixar marked the second departure from the Toy Story franchise and the first time that John Lasseter had relinquished the director's chair. Despite having the biggest budget to date for Pixar, Monsters, Inc. was another huge commercial success proving once again that the kings of animation were not a one trick pony and paving the way for more unique … [Read more...]