South Park was a natural escalation in the increasing trend of animation aimed towards adults. What the Simpsons had started in 1989 had been slowly building throughout the 90’s series such as Beavis and Butthead took the prerogative, but it wasn’t until South Park that the escalation reached its peak. Challenging taboo will always have…
While I do love reviewing films, I must admit that my motivation to do so from home has started to sag, resulting in me branching out into writing more about other subjects within the film world, the success of my Harry Potter and Robin Williams list formats tells me that there is an audience for that,…
Animation is a genre I’ve gone to bat for quite a lot in the past. Rather than seeing it as simple entertainment for kids, I’ve argued that it can be a vehicle for the most sensitive storytelling in film, when embracing a family-friendly tone, it can really portray complex issues in a way that will…
It isn’t very often I review a Netflix movie. In fact, I’ve only done two: Bright and The Irishman (although I saw The Irishman in cinema, during its limited release) two films at VERY distant opposites on the quality scale. This isn’t because I consider Netflix films any lesser than others, streaming is the future…
Those who have children, or have children in the family should remember the first Frozen with a mixture or warmth and dread. The film, and that dratted song, has been pretty much omnipresent in the half-decade since its initial release, making north of a billion dollars, and that kind of success simply does not go…
I may have said this before, but in my opinion the high-point of the Disney ‘live-action’ remakes has so far been The Jungle Book. It updated and refreshed a film that was long enough ago to warrant a fresh coat of paint with a stellar cast and a lovely new visual style. So, when the…
Like many people of my age, I was addicted to Pokemon as a kid. I spent hours watching the anime on a Saturday morning, collected the playing cards religiously, and played every Game Boy game of it I could get my hands on (including a weird bootleg one I bought in Bulgaria, but I digress)…
I saw this on the same day as Hellboy, two films that could really not be further apart. Hellboy is a cynical and transparent attempt to cash-in on a long-dormant series. While this is a charming, artful film from a very consistent animation studio. Laika Animation are the studio in question. They debuted in 2006…
So, The Lego Move was a bit of a surprise when it landed back in 2015. There’s a tendency for these films (film adaptations of popular things; see Angry Birds and The Emoji Movie) have a tendency to be cloying, brain dead activities in endurance, that only those with half a brain cell (or under…
