(courtesy IMP Awards) Full admission upfront: this reviewer, for reasons that still evade him, never quite warned to The Lion King, the 1994 animated gem from Disney that introduced us to the world of Mufasa, Simba and the Elton John-soundtracked Circle of Life. Two trips to the cinema were made Continue Reading
Movies
Movie review: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
(courtesy IMP Awards) Is it possible to quip merrily while still saving the world? You might think the level of concentration needed to avert global annihilation might preclude any and all comedic utterances, black humour laced and otherwise, but in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, directed by Jeff Fowler (who also Continue Reading
Movie review: Falling Into Place
(courtesy IMP Awards) Most romantic comedies (romcoms) would have you believe, and honestly this kind of escapism is why we loe them so much, that all you have to do to move beyond the pain and trauma of your past or present is to meet someone special and suddenly, WHOOSH!, Continue Reading
Popcorn and wine and a comfy seat in the dark: My top 25 films of 2024
(via Shutterstock) This was a year in which I still watched a lof of films but where I was just as apt to watch them on a streaming platform as at a cinema. It’s not that I’ve fallen out of love with seeing movies out in the cinematic wild, and Continue Reading
Merry pop culture Christmas to all … and to all a good streaming-reading-listening night! (Bonus The Penguins of Madagascar Christmas Special)
(courtesy Pinterest (c) Peanuts) Merry pop culture Christmas everyone! Another year has somehow zoomed right through, around and past us, offering up far too many books and movies and TV/streaming show and songs and graphic novels to consume in one lifetime, but reminding us as we gobbled what we could Continue Reading
Festive animated feature film review: Santa’s Apprentice
If you watched a fair amount of festive programming, you will be well familiar with the idea that there are not a lot of new ideas under the Christmas storytelling sun. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; we like our festive tropes and cliches held close and to pop up Continue Reading
On 7th day of Christmas, I added 15 more ornaments to my Christmas tree … The Sound of Music + Winnie the Pooh’s Rabbit, Linus + Snoopy, Nemo, Frozen, Snoopy, Big Hero 6 + more!
(via Shutterstock) More ornaments?! Did you really buy more than 15 ornaments in one year? Readers, I bought close to 60 and while that likely suggests a tad too much compulsive purchasing by someone who’s reached an age when they should be making more sensible buys, I love how happy Continue Reading
On 5th day of Christmas … I watched That Christmas
Saying that something “feel like Christmas” is at once profoundly and definitively true, and yet gloriously and warmly intangible too. Such is the season which all but dominates the final two months of the year, and realistically longer if you count the eagerness of retailers to make the most of Continue Reading
On 2nd day of Christmas … I watched Red One
(courtesy IMP Awards) While it’s highly unlikely that you have, there is a slim possibility, especially if you are of a vibrantly fecund imaginative bent, that you have wondered what might happened if someone was to make a Christmas movie that felt, in many ways, like a Marvel bang-boom-bam blockbuster. Continue Reading
Movie review: Moana 2
(courtesy IMP Awards) It was always going to be a tricky thing to follow up a massive success like Moana. Hailed as a near-perfect piece of feature animation by many, and introducing a titular hero who saved her people while growing as a person with animation as beautiful an oil Continue Reading