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...]
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) review by That Film Guy
The mission for Hollywood executives to fill the gaps left by Harry Potter and Twilight in the burgeoning tween market continues with the fairytale-based Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Directed by Tommy Wirkola of Dead Snow fame, it lists Will Ferrell as a producer and saw its release delayed by a year to coincide with star Jeremy Renner's meteoric rise in popularity. … [Read more...]
Cloud Atlas (2012) review by That Film Guy
In general films released today follow a broad structure of three acts, with the setup, the obstacle and the resolution. There are some films however that bend and manipulate this structure and try and create something more fluid. Then there are films that are pure and utter madness. A chaos of ideas and themes that distinctly do not follow the classical structure. Based on the … [Read more...]
Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
9 years after the release of the Oscar winning conclusion to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, director Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth in the first part of a new trilogy that adapts JRR Tolkien's first novel in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. On the day of Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) 111th birthday, he is caught by his nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) … [Read more...]
Life of Pi (2012) review by That Film Guy
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Yann Martel, Life of Pi was initially courted by M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuaron and Jean-Pierre Jeunet before Ang Lee took on the task of filming a seemingly unfilmable book. A Canadian author (Rafe Spall) is sent in search of a mysterious Indian-born Canadian called Pi (Irrfan Khan) because he's told that he has a story … [Read more...]
Review: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Perfectly positioned before the Christmas period and after the staggering success of The Avengers, Rise of the Guardians, based on a series of books called The Guardians of Childhood, unites a series of mythical creatures into an an Avengers-like team of children's defenders. Created by Dreamworks Animation it follows on from box office successes like Kung Fu Panda 2 and How to … [Read more...]
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) review by That Film Guy
Produced by the self-proclaimed "grassroots, independent filmmaking army" Court 13 and very loosely based on the one-act play Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar, Beasts of the Southern Wild is the directorial debut of Benh Zeitlin. A magical realist fable about a potential 'end of days' storm and the return of mythical creatures, Beasts of the Southern Wild is quite unlike any … [Read more...]
Conan the Barbarian (1982) review by That Film Dude
Let me tell you of the days of high adventure! Made at the height of the '80s fantasy boom, Conan the Barbarian remains pretty much the best film the genre has to offer that isn't The Lord of the Rings. While Arnold Schwarzenegger had been in films prior to Conan, it was this film which put him on the map as a major star; his acting is rubbish, but he was still pretty much … [Read more...]
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan) review by That Film Dude
Martial arts films had been big business in China for decades, but they never really caught on in a big way overseas until relatively recently. The Matrix drew a great deal of influence from the style of Hong Kong action cinema, and proved fairly conclusively that there was a market for these sorts of films in English speaking countries; and so a new wave of martial arts epics … [Read more...]
Ruby Sparks (2012) review by That Film Brat
Directed by husband and wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Ruby Sparks is a 2012 comedy-drama, based around a struggling writer named Calvin (Paul Dano), suffering writer's block in attempting to write the follow-up to his big success. His therapist (Elliot Gould) suggests he writes something regardless of it's quality. So, he invents a girl, his dream girl, in fact. … [Read more...]