102 Best Releases From the Genre Family (Page 3)
Lightyear
SimilarAlien (1979), Ice Age (2002), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004),
Live and Let Die (1973) Snakes on a Plane (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005),
Watch afterJurassic World Dominion (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures,
A movie based on Buzz Lightyear seemed inevitable, didn’t it? Toy Story is Pixar’s flagship franchise, and an action-packed sci-fi movie is primed for merchandising opportunities. There’s no way The Mouse could resist making a spin-off featuring the beloved fictional action figure. Continue Reading →
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
SimilarBeverly Hills Cop (1984), Bring It On (2000), Memento (2000), Night at the Museum (2006), The Holiday (2006),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures,
The more things change, the more they stay the same. For the latest example of this phenomenon, notice how, 34 years after Who Framed Roger Rabbit? changed movies forever, moviegoers are getting another comedic mystery hinging on live-action humans interacting with famous cartoon characters. The shadow of Zemeckis' revolutionary blend of filmmaking styles looms large over its modern-day thematic successor, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Continue Reading →
The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday
SimilarSin City (2005), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), The Party 2 (1982),
MPAA RatingG,
Who doesn't love a good redemption arc? We want to believe the best in people. We want to believe people can change for the better. It's no surprise, then, that the reformation of a character from an unrepentant villain to a heroic figure provides a very satisfying type of catharsis. Continue Reading →
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
SimilarBring It On (2000), Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Hitman (2007), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Night at the Museum (2006), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004),
Watch afterDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Jurassic World Dominion (2022),
In practice, most video game movies don’t have to worry about sequels. The likes of Assassin’s Creed and Warcraft failed to make anywhere near enough money to justify follow-ups. But there are still theatrical video game movie sequels here and there, now including Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Continue Reading →
Turning Red
SimilarAs It Is in Heaven (2004),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Stranger Than Paradise (1984),
Watch afterDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Batman (2022),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures,
Continue Reading →
Le Loup et le Lion
The history of movies is marked by unlikely duos. Whether it’s in vintage comedy double-acts like Abbott and Costello or the lead characters in classic movies like Paper Moon, cinema has long been defined by oddball pairings that just shouldn’t be. On paper, you couldn’t get a better continuation of that theme than a movie called The Wolf and the Lion, which focuses on the friendship between the titular animals. Unfortunately, despite the promising set-up, this new family movie proves to be a forgettable entry in the canon of unlikely duo cinema. Continue Reading →
Home Team
SimilarAnnie Hall (1977), The Big Blue (1988),
The 2012 Bountygate scandal pushed New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton toward his son, as he spent the season he was suspended from the NFL on the sidelines of a sixth-grade football team. Briefly: “Bountygate” sprung out of a system that Payton, his assistant Head Coach, the Saints’ former defensive coordinator, and the team’s General Manager put into practice that paid players bonuses for injuring key members of opposing teams on the field. Unfortunately, this is the true story at the heart of Home Team, a trite Kevin James vehicle depicting the public suspension of Payton just two years after the Saints victory at Super Bowl XLIV. This isn’t a rise and fall story. It’s a continuous landslide, 95 minutes that reaffirm Payton as an unsupportive father, a way-too-intense football coach, and an all-around negative person to be around. Continue Reading →
The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild
SimilarA.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Wonder Boys (2000),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures,
Ice Age’s creativity melted away so long ago that it may as well have vanished at the end of the actual Pleistocene. The series’ diminishing returns culminated in 2016’s disastrous Ice Age: Collision Course, a picture that made the name Ice Age synonymous with “empty cash grab.” And yet, as paleontologists do, Disney’s gone to dig it up. But rather than, say, exciting discoveries about the lives and times of woolly mammoths, all that the excavation of Ice Age has resulted in is another crummy movie: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild. Continue Reading →
Riverdance: The Animated Adventure
SimilarAs It Is in Heaven (2004), Volver (2006), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
In 1996, a peaceful time of American prosperity between the Cold War and Twitter, music’s biggest things were imports. One was Canadian Queen Celine Dion, with her classic “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” playing from car radios on constant rotation. The other was Irishman Michael Flatley who came to our shores with the step dancing phenomenon Riverdance. Continue Reading →
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
Watch afterEternals (2021),
StudioColumbia Pictures, MRC,
The Hotel Transylvania series is a surprising juggernaut amongst contemporary family entertainment. Who would have guessed that a movie about a hotel for monsters would create a franchise where every sequel grows in both box office and critical success? With no signs of slowing down, it made sense for Sony to greenlight a fourth film. How could another sequel not be a hit at the box office? Well, I think we know how. Continue Reading →
De Superman à Spider-Man: L'aventure des super-héros
StarringPatrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn,
StudioToei Animation,
In Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, moral ambiguity runs rampant through the life of imprisoned Rahim Soltani (Amir Jadidi). Locked away for a debt he could not repay, Soltani has two days of leave to get his creditor, a family friend, to drop the charges. He owes the man a large sum, given as a pseudo-loan for a failing small business. A father to a young boy with a speech impediment, Rahim is understandably anxious to negotiate his freedom. When his girlfriend finds a lost bag filled with 17 gold coins, the moral conundrums begin, multiplying throughout the film with “nice” deeds and public interference. Continue Reading →
劇場版 美少女戦士セーラームーンCosmos 前編
SimilarNausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Paris Can Wait (2016), Princess Mononoke (1997),
StarringAyane Sakura, Hisako Kanemoto, Junko Minagawa, Kotono Mitsuishi, Marina Inoue, Mariya Ise, Megumi Hayashibara, Sayaka Ohara, Shizuka Itoh, Shoko Nakagawa,
StudioKing Records, Studio Deen, Toei Animation, Toei Company,
The modern era of musicals moves fits and spurts. Over this young century, the form has repeatedly fallen in and out of fashion. 2021 was an on year—one pulsing full of musicals, which ranged from towering works like Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake to the dreaded and thoroughly mocked Dear Evan Hansen. Many of them were quite experimental too, like Leos Carax and Sparks’ Annette and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s tick, tick…BOOM!. But even against that august competition, Joe Wright’s Cyrano carves out a place as one of the most imaginative musicals of this modern era. Although The National’s newly-composed songs don’t immediately gel with the iconic story being told, Cyrano makes its way towards a moving, complex finale, thanks to a stellar set of performances. Continue Reading →
Heartbeeps
NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner started as an undrafted, unwanted quarterback bagging groceries and wound up leading The Greatest Show on Turf with the St. Louis Rams. It’s a true story so improbable that it shouldn’t be believable as a movie. But, now that it’s a real movie in the form of American Underdog, a faith-based biopic, it does seem unbelievable. That’s not because of the inspirational tale; it’s because it’s such a mediocre sports film. Continue Reading →
Sing 2
SimilarBack to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Ice Age (2002), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005),
StarringFisher Stevens,
Aadrman's original 1989 Creature Comforts did something unique. Director Nick Park took interviews with everyday Britain residents and then put those vocals into the mouths of stop-motion animated zoo animals. The result was fascinating, as two disparate elements combined to tap into the daily woes which inform our lives. Whether you’re a lion trapped in an exhibit, or a man just yearning for the space of your original home country, melancholy emotions are universal. Continue Reading →
Back to the Outback
Sometimes, it takes a moment for a movie’s subversive qualities to register. Bold artistic swings can take a moment to settle in. In the case of the new Netflix animated feature Back to the Outback, it wasn’t until after the credits began to roll that I realized something astonishing: Back to the Outback needle drops Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy”, but not Men at Work’s “Down Under.” It’s a rug pull if ever there was one. Continue Reading →
8-Bit Christmas
SimilarEdward Scissorhands (1990), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), The Party 2 (1982),
StudioNew Line Cinema,
To quote Mystery Science Theater 3000, “It’s the 80s! Do a lot of coke and vote for Ronald Reagan!” Continue Reading →
Robin Robin
SimilarMary Poppins (1964), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
Watch afterFree Guy (2021), Licorice Pizza (2021), tick tick... BOOM! (2021),
MPAA RatingG,
Though their first project made exclusively for Netflix, Robin Robin brings animation studio Aardman back to familiar territory. Aardman’s big claim to fame was Wallace and Gromit shorts released as TV specials like A Grand Day Out or The Wrong Trousers. It may be dropping on a streaming platform rather than on broadcast television, but Robin Robin allows Aardman to once again cram a lot of beautiful animation and charm into 30 minutes of storytelling. Continue Reading →
Beauty and the Beast
Once Upon a Time… Continue Reading →