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Blessed be the filmmakers who actually honor their source material. After that atrocious poo-eating moment in the Alvin and the Chipmunks trailer I posted last week, I thought it would be a good idea to put up a trailer reminding us that CGI can also be a force for good, instead of evil.

Tonight I caught Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a do-over from attempting to see it on Friday, which outing was ruined by a melted IMAX film. I’m so glad I saw this movie. Enough people have accused me of being unable to suspend disbelief recently, as I’ve vocally expressed my distaste for [...]

I have to say I’m quite pleased by the huge box office success of the fifth Harry Potter movie over the last week. Because I’m a fan of the franchise? True, but that’s not why. It’s because at last I can stop getting copies of Variety spouting about the success of Transformers. Have I mentioned [...]

If I ever again suggest giving Michael Bay the benefit of the doubt, stop me. With the 4th of July awkwardly falling on a Wednesday this year, and with Bush’s hidden-from-news-cycle-by-holiday commutation of Libby squeezing any last drop of national pride from me, I opted against attending any fireworks celebration.  Instead, I thought I’d check [...]

So I wrote earlier this month that the new Transformers movie was doing nothing to arouse my inner geek, and I meant it. A friend insisted I should stop overanalyzing things like the probably quality of the story. I should just relax and just enjoy the summer blockbusteryness of a tentpole franchise destined for sequels. [...]

There’s a geeky twelve-year-old boy inside of me that just starts drooling at the promise of huge spectacle movies based on the treasures of my childhood. I seriously remember tingles running through my body during certain movie trailers. Sometimes my inner geek-boy’s anticipation is paid off (as by all but the last five minutes of [...]

This weekend Mystery Man is hosting a blog-athon of people’s favorite screenplays. As he suggests, favorite screenplay turns out to be a tougher question than you might assume on first consideration. One’s favorite film isn’t necessarily one’s favorite screenplay. It took a while for me to settle on the right choice. At first, my thoughts [...]

This is not a movie review. I watched 300 today. However, while it is true that I have now seen it, I don’t know if it was a good movie. For all my study of character and structure, for all my constant analysis of hours of storytelling each day, I have no clue how I [...]

After catching the Rise of the Silver Surfer trailer released around Christmas, I didn’t know if I wanted to see the movie, but I did think it was one of the best trailers I’ve seen in a long time. In my opinion, the commercials that have started to air for this movie just recently have [...]

I wasn’t planning to do a post about the potential Best Picture nominees. After all, the last thing we need is another blogger weighing in on the big categories. However, a reader asked. Plus, I just returned from AMC’s all-day marathon showing of the five nominees. I’m drunk enough off an odd sense of accomplishment–earned [...]

It’s impressive to think about the effect some important documentary films have had lately. Following Morgan Spurloch’s Super Size Me, McDonald’s and other fast food chains started offering healthy menus. (A decision they will of course tell you was in no way influenced by the movie.) After 8 years as Vice-President, purportedly working behind the [...]