Remake and sequel hysteria has hit an all-time high these past few years and it isn’t showing any signs of stopping. With Raja Gosnell’s The Smurfs set to destroy more of our collective childhood in a few weeks, and the third installment of Transformers smashing its way into theaters, exploiting children’s television shows from yesteryear is [...]
PCN RATING: Transformers: Dark of the Moon may be the ultimate Michael Bay movie. Featuring skull-rattling action sequences, state-of-the-art special effects, over-heated set pieces and a severe lack of anything pretending to be intelligence or modesty, Transformers 3 comes off like a hyperactive kid’s afternoon playtime; a golden-age alien invasion flick as directed by Toy [...]
No matter how much sleek, sophisticated animation and clever voice talent you slap on Cars 2, the rust keeps showing through and the engine sputters and stalls.
Ah, Emma Stone. She fought the undead in Zombieland and skewered classic literature in Easy A. Now, it seems, she might be set to do both at the same time. Stone, who has this summer’s The Help coming up, as well as her role as Mary Jane Watson in the next Spiderman, has been [...]
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cronos is now available on Netflix Instant. PCN RATING: Ahh, vampire movies. Most are tedious exercises in a genre screaming for a stake in it’s heart.Once in awhile though, you will have something good slip through the cracks. Guillermo Del Toro’s Cronos is such a film. Even after Del Toro made a [...]
Okuribito (Departures) (2008) rated: PG-13 for thematic material. 130 min. Japanese with english subtitles. directed by: Yojiro Takita. written by: Kundo Koyama. starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki. cinematography by: Takeshi Hamada. Original music by: Joe Hisaishi. PCN RATING: The wanted ad says the position will help others find ‘peaceful journeys.’ Freshly [...]
PCN RATING: Telling the speculative story of what ‘really happened’ to legendary outlaw Butch Cassidy after that fateful shootout in the boarding house in Bolivia, Blackthorn delivers a decidedly classic Western with an undeniably iconic turn by Sam Sheppard. The result is a film that marches laconically to its own internal beat, wrapping the audience [...]
PCN RATING: It isn’t surprising to learn that Will Ferrell’s newest dramedy, ‘Everything Must Go’ is based off a Raymond Carver short story. Carver, one of American’s great fiction writers was himself a recovering alcoholic with a minimalist and touchingly human style. The film follows suit; Ferrell’s Nick Porter is an hard-drinker that falls of [...]
PCN RATING: “In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight Let those who worship evil’s might, Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!” If you are comic geek you no doubt recognize that little ditty as the oath of the Green Lantern Corps, the intergalactic peacekeepers of the classic DC comics [...]
PCN RATING: The world has been torn apart and over-run by vampires, leaving the survivors inert, dead-eyed refuges in a burned-out America. No, I’m not talking about the aftermath of the Twilight phenomenon, but rather Jim Mickle and Nick Damici’s new horror drama, Stakeland. As hard as it may be to believe, the duo finally [...]
Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life is his magnum opus; a work of significant beauty, that expands the notion of what movies can be, what they may reveal, and how they can inspire us to feel.
PCN RATING: I am a proud child of the 80s; a once flannel-wearing, Goonies-watching, Zebra-gum chewing, Q-bert playing brat who recalls a time when there were new episodes of The Snorks, Small Wonder and Manimal airing on fuzzy network television. I present this context because JJ Abrams Super 8 has been specifically made for kids [...]
I’m not still completely sure how to take Craig Gillespie’s remake of Fright Night. The original film is probably the definitive horror movie of my childhood; one of those creepy flicks that bridged my love of older films and the newer, edgier variety that I was just discovering at the time. In my opinion, [...]
Ramping up for the Emmy nominations, The Hollywood Reporter has posted this nifty little article that features make-up artist Greg Nicotero walking through the steps he uses to create one of The Walking Dead’s rotting monsters. Nicotero, who also serves as consultimg producer on the AMC horror series, is as varied and prolific as special effects [...]
Second ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ trailer puts spotlight on Weta’s special effects and the angry, riled-up simian stars.