Movie Row: Fantasy

Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts

Review of "Night at the Museum"
Tuesday, January 23, 2007

This movie is refreshing and enjoyable. Don’t expect a solid and profound plot. Instead be ready for a simple but full of surprises one that manages to entertain you the whole length of the movie, while being very easy to digest. Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is employed as a night watch for the Museum of Natural History in NYC with the task of not letting anything in or out of the museum, and soon discovers what the "out" part was all about. "Powered" by an ancient, cursed Egyptian pharaoh's tablet, the animals and exibits in the museum come to life, wreaking havoc. Not afording to quit his job, Larry has to deal with them and prevent them from getting out, where they would turn to dust.

The acting is ok, with Stiller actually being funny and likable, which is something he hasn’t been in many of it’s movies. Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt is hilarious as usual and a nice surprise and so is Mickey Rooney, as the disgruntled and annoyed security guard, Gus.

The special effects are good and their star is certainly Rex, the T-Rex in the movie and the best dinosaur on screen in the last years. The cowboy and the Roman and Aztec miniatures that give Larry a continuous headache are very funny and do a good job supporting the chaos that characterizes the film. Also adding to the dynamic, the music is good and in tone with the action that evolves on screen.

Though having it’s share of clichés, Night at the Museum is a great family film worth watching. It has action, romance and a good dose of silly humor. Best fun flick in a while.

RATING: 7/10

Directed by: Shawn Levy
Writing credits: Ben Garant (also screen story), Thomas Lennon (also screen story) & Milan Trenc (book)
Starring: Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Steve Coogan, Patrick Gallagher, Ricky Gervais, and Mickey Rooney

MPAA Rating: Rated PG for mild action, language and brief rude humor.
Runtime: 108 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color
Sound Mix: DTS / Dolby Digital / SDDS
Certification: UK:PG / USA:PG / Portugal:M/6 / Malaysia:U / Australia:PG / Singapore:PG / Germany:6 / Portugal:M/12 / Hong Kong:I / Ireland:PG / Finland:K-11

See it also at:
IMDb
Metacritic
Rotten Tomatoes

Posted byBurner at 21:40 0 comments

Labels: Action, Comedy, Family/Kids, Fantasy, Reviews

"Blood and Chocolate" Soon to Open
Monday, January 15, 2007

Blood and Chocolate will soon open in the US. On January 26th, to be precise. From what I've seen and read so far, it's just another werewolf movie. One nice touch to it is that it was filmed in Romania, in my city, Bucharest.

So, you have Vivian (Agnes Bruckner) a young werewolf who's living in Bucharest and is chosen as the mate for the leader of her pack, Gabriel, interpreted by Olivier Martinez, though she has feelings for a human - Aiden (Hugh Dancy). Her sense of alienation is heightened when a series of unexplained murders point to her as the killer, a threat not only for her, but for her entire pack as well. Personally, this plot has a little Underworld written over it, only this time, we don't have vampires, but werewolves. In fact, the producers are the same ones that brought you Underworld. Who knows, maybe I've underestimated this movie.

RELEASE DATE: January 26, 2007

Directed by: Katja von Garnier
Writing credits: Ehren Kruger (screenplay), Christopher Landon (screenplay) & Annette Curtis Klause (book)
Starring: Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez

Also Known As: N/A
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for violence/terror, some sexuality and substance abuse
Runtime: N/A
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color
Sound Mix: N/A
Certification: USA:PG-13

Awards: N/A

See it also at:
Official site
IMDB