NEW “SPIDER-MAN” ADDS ACTING HEFT
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field Directed by Marc Webb Written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, Steve Kloves Based on characters created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Running time 136 mins. Rated PG-13 Tobey, or not Tobey. If that was the question, it’s not anymore. One might well wonder why try to follow up the amazing performances of Tobey Maguire as the wall-crawling web-slinger of Marvel comics fame. The guy’s one of the more skilled artists in the field. That’s what makes this new...
Read More“ARRIETTY” HUGELY FUN
Another animated classic from Studio Ghibli, this time with Hayao Miyazaki writing the screenplay, but not directing. If you like the live-action film “The Borrowers,” you’ll love this film based on Mary Norton’s four inch-tall Clock family. Upshot: A boy (Henrie) living with his aunt discovers a family of tiny people who borrow small items from the big folk. The Clock family’s daughter, Arrietty (Mendler), longs for the adventure of accompanying her father (Arnett) on his journey to borrow one sugar cube and a blanket of tissue paper. They get seen by the boy, but he’s not...
Read More“JOHN CARTER” STELLAR BURROUGHS MOVIE
The thing is, most Edgar Rice Burroughs movies aren’t very good. There’s never been an accurate Tarzan movie, and the rest of it’s all Doug McClure. Luckily, somebody saw “Avatar.” That’s a movie with tall blue aliens and a military dude. “A Princess of Mars,” published one hundred and one years ago, is a book with tall green aliens and a military dude. Should’ve been a shoe-in. Not that this movie is all that faithful to the book. It does differ substantially in key respects. But what this movie gets right, it does really well. Even those who’ve never read any...
Read More“ARTIST” MAKES MOVIE MAGIC
This movie about movies is a sublime experience from the opening credits, and as post modern as it gets. It’s black and white, it’s silent, and it’s every bit deserving of the hype. Like “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Artist” is a boundary-pushing experience unlike any other. Having never seen “A Star is Born,” but having read about James Mason, I think “Artist” trends off of “Star” in that as one entertainer’s career goes up, the other’s is going down, and they’re in a relationship together. In this case, when talkies come along, the silent star’s career...
Read More“This Means War”: Serviceable
Likable performances fuel this farcical romance-fare. Upshot: A couple of dashing young CIA agents (Pine, Hardy) spend their time trying to win the hand of a beautiful young woman (Witherspoon). For me the first draw is Hardy, whose performance stands out in “Inception,” and whom I’ve seen in the trailer as the bad guy for the upcoming Batman movie. The second draw is Chris Pine, who I think plays Captain Kirk even better than William Shatner. The drawback when watching is that “This Means War” leans far too heavily on what I consider cutesy. The vibe with the vast majority of what...
Read More“The Grey” Cold and Severe
Worth weathering. To the bad, this film plays like it was funded by some anti-wolf league. To the good, Liam Neeson’s always cool. He’s especially cool in this movie because: When a plane carrying an oil-rig crew crashes in Alaska, a rugged dude (Neeson) tries to lead survivors to safety through icy wilderness in spite of murderous wolves out to get them. Basically, where’s Charles Martin Smith when you need him? If the intrepid biologist from “Never Cry Wolf” was around, the oil-riggers wouldn’t have to freak out. What “Jaws” did for sharks, and “The Edge” would have...
Read MoreStewsReview: Featured Contributor
Stewart Kirby, a native of the redwoods, sets all of his contemporary fantasy fiction electronic novels, or, e-vels, in the Goth Hick world of Northern California’s Humbaba County, where levitating Hippies battle the forces of globalization. http://www.stewartkirby.blogspot.com. 