Now Playing: ‘Beetle Queen’ docu buzzes with life
Entomologist turned filmmaker, Jessica Oreck casts a patient, reverent eye towards creepy crawlies in ‘Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo’
entertainment
Of Unknown Origin Review
PCN rating: Made in 1983 in Montreal (which was doubling for New York on the screen), Of Unknown Origin stars Peter Weller, Buckaroo Banzai himself, as an architect who has just finished renovating a brownstone townhouse for his family and finds a strange, persistent intruder threatening both his home and his ordered existence. The original trailer [...]
Now Playing: ‘Splice’ is a cinematic aberration
Vincenzo Natali follows up his successful thrillers Cube and Cypher with Splice, a muddled cross pollination of monster movies and sci-fi morality fables.
Now Playing: Dear George, You call this ‘Survival?’
An open letter from PCN to George Romero, whose newest zombie mishap, Survival of the Dead opens this weekend. Please sir, just stop.
Now Playing:Little lost ‘Prince’ doesn’t feel like Persia
PCN Rating: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is possibly the most faithful game-to-cinema adaptation to date. Characters run across a whirling digital landscape and leap and jump over walls and rooftops. All of the actors pop on and off screen speaking in disjointed fragments and half thoughts, as if re-enacting really expensive cut [...]
Television: BBC’s ‘Money’ doesn’t retain its original value
Directed by: Jeremy Lovering, Written by: Tom Butterworth, Chris Hurford, Based on the novel by Martin Amis. Starring: Nick Frost, Jerry Hall, Vincent Kartheiser Reviewed by: Jarv Ninja Rating: The BBC have a charter that they must abide by. They are compelled by law to provide a certain amount of original drama, and also to provide a [...]
Nightmare on Elm St. Movie Review
Platinum Dunes attempts to resurrect Freddy Krueger with a new ‘Nightmare’ that amounts to little more than a long yawn.
Cinema Retro-1939: Dark Victory Review
DARK VICTORY (Not rated-probably G equivalent) 104 min. Directed by: Edmund Goulding. Written by: Casey Robinson from the play by George Emerson Brewer Jr. Starring: Bette Davis, George Brent, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Reagan. Cinematography: Ernest Haller. Original Music by: Max Steiner, Howard Jackson. “I think I’ll have a large order of prognosis negative”–Judith [...]
Family Night: Looking Back on ‘The Blind Side’
Ninja Rating: Originally published in November 2009. John Lee Hancock’s film version of Michael Lewis’ novel, The Blind Side is an unexpected holiday gift to movie-goers looking for a little emotional uplift with their theater experience. In a sea of empty calorie FX pictures, yawny teen flicks, and devestating dramatic pieces, The Blind Side is that dependable [...]
Vision Quest: Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Review
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (PG-13) Directed by: Terry Gilliam. Written by: Terry Gilliam & Charles McKeown Starring: Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Heath Ledger, Tom Waits, Verne Troyer, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell Ninja Rating: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Terry Gilliam film that has stirred in me any sense [...]
DVD Dojo: Daybreakers Review
Daybreakers (R) 108 min. Written & Directed by: The Spiereg Brothers. Starring: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, Isabel Lucas Cinematography: Ben Nott Score: Christopher Gordon Ninja Rating: At a Christmas get-together this year, one of my extended family members told me he had seen the site and would probably read it more if I [...]
Chaw Review
Chaw (NR) Running Time: 121 min. Directed by: Jeong-Won Shin Starring: Tae-Woong Eom, Yoon Jae-Moon, Yu-mi Jeong, Earl Wayne Ording Cinematography: Barry Stone PCN Rating: Jeong-Won Shin’s Chaw is an amazingly buffoonish piece of work. Think Police Academy meets Razorback. Although in concept it sounds like a thriller, there’s nothing more to this one than [...]
The Wolfman Review
The Wolfman (R) 103 min. Directed by: Joe Johnston Written by: Andrew Kevin Walker & David Self Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving Cinematography: Original Score: Danny Elfman PCN Rating: There is a scene in the new Wolfman where Emily Blunt runs through the foggy night forest, pursued by Del Toro’s [...]
Avatar Review
Running time: 162 Minutes Rating: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking. Written and Directed By: James Cameron Staring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel Moore, Wes Studi, CCH Pounder, and Laz Alonso PCN Rating: The lights turn down, the 3-D glasses [...]
Top 20 Horror Movies of the Decade: Part 1
From Sam Raimi’s latest fright flick to the obscure antics of a French cannibal, PCN compiles a list of the decade’s best horror.