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A charming fable from the creators of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Based on the Roald Dahl children's classic, the story follows the adventures of the title boy and his friends (all gigantic bugs) on a huge peach. The boy, James, wishes to get away from his wicked aunts, (Absolutely Fabulous' Joanna Lumley and Babe's Miriam Margoyles) who have kept him locked up in their rotted old house. Then, a strange man (Pete Postlethwaite) comes along and gives James some magic creatures. One of the little critters gets away and comes across a peach. After making the peach grow to the size of the house, as well as the inhabitants, James uses it as his getaway from a horrid life as he journeys to New York City: "The place where dreams come true!!" (Don't ask where that came from, it's Dahl's story).Astounding stop motion animation and a script that stays pretty true to the original story, make this a charming movie for both children and adults alike. There are a few quirks. The quirks were mainly the songs by Randy Newman. I think a lot of people could have done without those. Also, the live action scenes are a little disappointing. Besides being a somewhat surreal, the settings during those scenes seem extremely fake. The animated scenes are much more interesting. The voices are good too: Richard Dreyfuss as the Centipede, Frasier's Jane Leeves as the ladybug and Susan Sarandon as the spider. I most certainly recommend it for the family.
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What was meant to be a simple little Russian film, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1905, became an international movie classic. The tale revolves around the battleship "Potemkin" and the mutiny of its crew. The ship's sleeping quarters are overcrowded and the food is full of maggots. When the ship's doctor states that the maggot covered meat is perfectly edible, that's the last straw for the crew. The revolution is on!Pure cinematic genius. Sergei Eisenstein, one of Russia's greatest filmakers, made a true masterpiece that is universal in it's appeal. One of the most famous scenes in film history, the "Odessa steps" sequence, is here and it has been lovingly parodied and imitated in films ranging from Woody Allen's Bananas to Brian De Palma's The Unotuchables. There is plenty of action and great visuals for the eyes. Don't miss a moment!
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Fritz Lang's sci-fi classic was recently restored, with a new rock soundtrack by composer Giorgio Morodor. The year is 2000 and the setting is a massive city full of gigantic machines, run by slaves, who are nearly ready to start a revolution against the upper classes, who, at present, run the whole show. Brigitte Helm portrays both the innocent young girl, who tries to settle the disagreements between the two classes with peace and her robot double, who chooses to incite the revolution. All of this is set in motion by the maddest of mad scientists, Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge).Many film buffs and film critics alike, heavily criticized the rock score of Morodor as being distracting to the visual feast before peoples eyes. However, you can do two things with the score. You can simply ignore it. Think of it as just part of the background, like all the piano music people used to listen to with the film in the early days of cinema. The music can even help tell you what's going on, just by listening to how the music is being played. I won't go into all that right now. But the second thing you can do, if you are watching this on TV or video, is just turn the volume down given you don't like the music. I mean, it's not like you can hear what the people are saying!. With Potemkin, this is one of the many great silent classics of the 20's. It was one of the most expensive at the time, but that doesn't make much difference. It's still very exciting, very heartwarming and very great art. That's right! Cinema can be art too and not just novelty items or empty-headed million dollar productions. It's hard to believe that these days, but it's true.
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The mother of all giant monster movies! Still thrilling and captivating after all these years!! Forget the 1976 remake-bomb of this unforgettable classic. The amazing stop-motion effects are still as fantastic as they were in 1933. The story follows rich filmaker, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) on his hunt for the mythical giant ape Kong, to New York, where Kong is put on display for the city people. However, Kong gives the people of the city a real show, when he breaks his chains and takes off into the streets, causing destruction wherever he goes. The big ape does this in the name of love. And of course, that love is the lovely Fay Wray as Ann Darrow, the most-well remembered damsel in distress.Sound cliche. Probably because this is a film that invented a few cliches of it's own. The final climactic scene atop the Empire State Building has become as beloved as the "Odessa steps" sequence in Potemkin. But there's more to the film than just that. Much more! Plenty of great action scenes and unsurpassed animation make this a timeless film, year after year.
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