Category: Review

Director Steven Spielberg has spent nearly 30 years trying to bring The Adventures of Tintin to the big screen. The popular comics by Belgian artist Hergé have a worldwide fan base, but more so in Europe than in North America, which may limit the film’s appeal on these shores. Lack of knowledge of these stories should not deter you from seeing this movie, however. More than just an excellent family film, it’s an action-adventure on par with some of Spielberg’s best work.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/the-adventures-of-tintin-movie-review/

By way of full disclosure, I should mention at the start that I have not read Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, the bestselling Swedish mystery novels featuring punk hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist. I also haven’t seen the trio of films originally made for Swedish television that were released to worldwide cinema two years ago. What I have seen is director David Fincher’s North American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and while it’s not perfect, it’s a riveting experience that will stay with you.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-movie-review/

In real life, Tom Cruise inspires more eye rolls than excitement these days, but in the movies, he can still do the opposite. No matter how crazy the stunts or gadgets get in his Mission: Impossible movies, they still remain wild thrill rides. The sub-titled Ghost Protocol, fourth in the series, is just as good as the previous ones, even if the missions are beginning to seem a little less impossible.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-movie-review/

There are few movie sub-genres more predictable than the babysitting comedy. The sitter, usually reluctant, arrives at the house, meets the kids, who are all uniquely troublesome, sends the parents off, and then proceeds to take the kids out of the house on some wild, irresponsible, and dangerous errand. This type of movie only succeeds on its details and its jokes. Jonah Hill’s new movie, The Sitter, hasn’t thought out the former and doesn’t have enough of the latter.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/the-sitter-movie-review/

Whether you consider it a blessing or a curse, we humans are obsessed with rational explanations. All children eventually wonder how Santa Claus delivers presents all over the world in one night, and because of this, there has been no shortage of family films and TV specials explaining how it’s done. Arthur Christmas is the latest of these, and while few of its explanatory ideas are new, it makes up for it with a story full of action, humour and heart.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/arthur-christmas-movie-review/

I love sharing movies with my kids, and we watch a lot of them. However, “family” films, like all others, vary in quality and impression. I have a pretty good memory, but when it came time for us to see Happy Feet Two, I couldn’t remember seeing the original, which says something about it. And while I’m pretty sure the sequel will disappear down the same rabbit-hole in my mind, it does have its moments.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/happy-feet-two-movie-review/

Being of a certain age, I grew up not knowing much about J. Edgar Hoover. By the time I came along, he had already become a pop culture cartoon, well known for his rumoured eccentricities. Knowing that Hoover was the architect of the modern Federal Bureau of Investigation, however, I was interested to learn more about him through director Clint Eastwood’s new film J. Edgar. But while it is interesting, the film lacks depth, and understanding its subject still proves elusive.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/j-edgar-movie-review/

The best science fiction is about ideas. Even Star Wars has a story about the virtues of spirituality over technology. When sci-fi explores a great idea, that world can rattle around in one’s brain for days afterward. This is the case with In Time.

But a science fiction movie must still entertain. A bad movie, whatever the cause, distracts us from the story and pulls us out of the experience. Unfortunately, this is also the case with In Time.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/in-time-movie-review/

Over the years, we have come to expect that movie sequels will usually be worse than the original. Creators often feel pressure to out-do themselves, and in doing so they trade good stories for empty spectacle and extraneous new characters. It’s usually even worse for “spin-off” movies, which take one or more of those extraneous characters and try to make their own franchises. I’m qualifying those last few sentences because Puss in Boots, a spin-off of the Shrek movies, is actually great fun and stands apart from its origins.

Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:

http://www.oakville.com/articles/puss-in-boots-movie-review/