For those who have never seen a Hayao Miyazaki movie, you do not know what you are missing.  Period.  His films have a magical ability to entertain people of all ages, warming your heart while touching your soul.  Characters in his movies (regardless of their appearance) are all inherently good, and talk to each other like real people talk to each other.  Parents do not condescend to their children, children are independent and brave, and although things may be dramatic, they are never overtly scary.

So it was with this “lowered” set of expectations that I viewed Ponyo.    Read the full story

I was somewhat surprised to see the movie Halo Legends in my docket for upcoming review. As a long-time Sony and Nintendo gamer, I had never played any version of Halo, and saw no need to, based on my age-related dislike of first person shooter games. Really, my complete knowledge of Halo could be summed up as there was a green armored guy named Master Chief, and you use him to shoot lots of aliens.

As a general rule of thumb, movies based on video games tend to well, lets say, not quite meet expectations. Although there are exceptions to the rule (like Pokémon, or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), for each good movie there is three or four bad ones (like Street Fighter or Super Mario Brothers). Read the full story

Anime, (Japanese-style animation), or ‘Japanime’ as it is sometimes called, is a very specific genre that has amassed quite a following worldwide.  With its bigger titles such as Ninja Scroll and Ghost in the Shell, anime continues to see a multitude of financial success.  Entering the fray in this category but on a slightly different level is The Sky Crawlers. It combines traditional Japanese animation with a fair amount of CGI (computer generated imagery).  So will The Sky Crawlers soar above the competition or will it stall on the runway?  Let’s suit up and find out!

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Keanu Reeves has come a long way since the days of Bill & Ted. He really came into his own when given the part of Neo in The Matrix. The film Constantine suits him well as the character is very dark, with not too much emotion. This seems to be the type of character he is used to playing in many of his recent films, including the up coming The Day the Earth Stood Still. Constantine is a film full of action, drama and some scares, which is all a good thing and really is a thrill ride kind of a film. Read the full story

There have been plenty of great action films that have starred Arnold. He was a huge box office draw in the 90s. In the summer of 1996, Warner Brothers made a boad load of cash with Eraser. Box office money does not always indicate a great movie, mind you. Worldwide, the gross was over 220 million dollars. That is an insane amount of cash for a film where the acting is suspect, and the storyline is totally predictable. Definitely not one of Arnold’s best, not by a long shot. Read the full story

There is nothing like a good epidemic or virus to scare the living heck out of you. It happens everyday. Turn on your local news and you’ll see stories about bird flu, salmonella, Mad Cow or killer bees. Sure, all of these things are out there but imagine a virus like the plague, in today’s environment, and you would have a huge panic. Well, in this Blu-ray review of Outbreak, a deadly virus is on the loose on US soil and it is up to Dustin Hoffman and his co-stars to save the day. Read the full story

It’s year 4 at Hogwarts, and for me this was the best Potter of the first five films. Hogwarts plays host to the prestigious Triwizard Tournament, and that means putting up students from two other wizard schools. Here we get an inkling of just how large the Potter universe truly is. Up until now our experience has only taken us through the world of Hogwarts and its peripheral environs. Read the full story

It’s year 3 at Hogwarts, and behind the scenes there have been some significant changes in the Harry Potter universe. Chris Columbus gave up the directing duties to Alfonso Cuaron. While Cuaron was faithful to the traditions established by Columbus, I do believe he did a rather nice job of adding his own dark touches to the Hogwarts landscape. Whether it was a new director or simply greater maturity, there is no question that Cuaron got better performances out of the three major actors. Read the full story

It’s year two at Hogwarts, and now we know who everyone is, so there isn’t going to be any time wasted setting up characters and relationships. I must say that the three actors playing Harry, Hermione, and Ron (Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint) pull off the chemistry in a pleasantly convincing manner. You believe these kids now have some history together, so we’re off to Hogwarts and a new adventure before you can blink your eye. Because of the great setup provided in the first film, the sequel has every potential to be better than the original, and Chamber Of Secrets lives up to that potential. Read the full story

For those unfamiliar with Clint Eastwood’s recent massive undertaking, Letters from Iwo Jima is the companion film to Flags of our Fathers (see my previous review). What Eastwood has done is taken two different perspectives on the same battle: one from the soldiers responsible for raising the famous flag on Mt Suribachi, the other from the Japanese soldiers as they prepare and enter the battle themselves. Letters is the latter and possibly stronger film of the two.

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