Author: Michael

What’s this all about? Astro Boy is a CGI adaptation of the Japanese Manga property of the same name, which originated in 1968, and has been around in some form ever since. It isn’t a well-known property in the West, but it’s not unknown, either. In 2009, Hong Kong-based studio Imagi Animation Studios, tried to…

What’s this all about? Hang on, kids. This one is wild. In 2009, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans was released as a “follow up” to the 1992 Harvey Keitel drama, Bad Lieutenant. It isn’t a sequel. There are no characters (or even a setting) in common between the films, in fact, the titular…

What’s this all about? In G-Force, we get a live action/CGI talking animal picture about a group of Guinea Pigs, a mole, and a fly who are part of an FBI-funded experiment to turn them into secret infiltrator agents. As with all modern CGI talking animal films, we get perplexing cast of stars, and an…

What’s this all about? In 2009, following the box office bomb that was Bangkok Dangerous, Nicolas Cage ventured into somewhat calmer territory with Knowing, the story of a widowed MIT professor raising his young son while also dealing with the most preposterous series of coincidences possible, and a global extinction event. Following the death of…

What’s this all about? In Bangkok Dangerous, we get to see a high-priced, international assassin take on his “last big job” following the three rules that have kept him alive for his entire career. Of course, he breaks all three rules, with predictable results. It’s your standard late 2000’s action piece in which a single…

What’s this all about? Treasure hunting know-it-all Benjamin Franklin Gates is back to wreck the country, this time to prove that his great, great grandfather wasn’t a conspirator in the Abraham Lincoln assassination, you know, because his family name would be ruined if that kind of thing got out. Anyway, he and the entire cast…

What’s this all about? In Next, we see an adventure featuring a small-time Vegas magician who actually has the magical ability to see about two minutes into the future. He uses this skill to augment his stage show, and to supplement his income in interesting ways. Subplots involving a woman that he sees in a…

What’s this all about? Grindhouse is a weird “double-feature” film, which packs two films, one (Planet Terror) directed by Robert Rodriguez, and another (Death Proof) directed by Quentin Tarantino. It’s a star-studded affair made as an homage to “grindhouse” films of the 1970’s. In case you, like me, weren’t really familiar with the term “grindhouse,”…

What’s this all about? Nicolas Cage, one of Hollywood’s biggest names, and most famous comic-book nerds, gets his chance to headline a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in Ghost Rider, the story of a guy who accidentally makes a pact with Satan, and becomes a ridiculous skeleton puppet, for some reason. Have you ever…

What’s this all about? A small town cop suffering from some PTSD travels to a remote island to solve the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend’s daughter. On the island, he discovers a reclusive group of weird people who practice a pagan religion, and who do not welcome the intrusion of a traffic cop who’s way outside…