The Croods Go Crazy!

The Croods is more than a Flintstone Family conundrum, and it explores the problems siblings face with their parents.

The CroodsWriter/Creator Chris Sanders shows that he rarely strays far from what he knows is a good tale. In what he crafted for The Croods is more than a Flintstone Family conundrum, and it explores the problems siblings face with their parents.

But this movie is one tough rock to crack. It doesn’t have the same appeal as Sander’s breakout directorial hit, Lilo & Stitch, or his phenomenal adaptation of Cassandra Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon. When the story has to deal with five characters attempting to share equal screen time, the problems of managing a cohesive family drama versus sit-com ala The Munsters is evident.

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Escape from Planet Earth and; Hidden Messages, a Blu-Ray Review

Had Escape from Planet Earth have been more diligent with its message of mending fences then this movie might have fared better

Escape from Planet EarthFans of Brendan Fraser’s work will most likely find enjoyment with Escape from Planet Earth. He is the perfect fit to voice Scorch Supernova, a not-so bright hero from the planet Baab. This astronaut thinks might makes right when defending his world from mysterious forces from beyond his solar system. Most of the vocal talent like Jessica AlbaGeorge Lopez and Ricky Gervais fit in rather well to the character archetypes they are portraying in this film but this talent does not help save it from certain production problems. There is no clear target audience for Rainmaker Entertainment’s first foray into feature film development.

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“Thirst”-ing for more Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters

Watching this episode combines the best of several iconic films from this genre. Readers beware, spoilers are ahead.

Transformers Prime LogoSpoiler Alert

Not many Transformers Prime episodes are worth a full-on commentary after broadcast as the latest. “Thirst” brings back two favorites; one of them being Silus (voiced by Clancy Brown) who was unceremoniously dragged off to heaven knows where last season and presumably to be never mentioned again. Thankfully, the dangling plots are being addressed as this last season starts to wind down. As for this poor cybernaut, his transformation gets scarier and it harkens to many a product from horror movies.

Watching this episode combines the best of several iconic films from this genre. Readers beware, spoilers are ahead.

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Where is the “Epic” Appeal? A Movie Review

Epic inserts is a movie made on steroids. It tries to be too much of everything we love from Disney and it’s not needed.

Epic Film PosterThe main problem with Blue Sky Studio’s Epic is that it tries too hard to be just that. This film forgets where its inspirations should be coming from. It could have borrowed from Peer Gynt—which would have been fine—but it didn’t. While the CGI is very impressive with its photo-realism, that isn’t enough to carry this film.

This movie deserves a Oscar nomination for artistic direction. As for any other category, it may need a Razzie for its story development.

Its fairy tale aspirations gets forgotten in favor for an action story in the same vein as Avatar. Instead of an invasion of an evasive human species, the antagonist here is with the forces lurking under the earth. All the nastiness of mosquitoes, mole-men and rodents (including bats) gets personified as agents of pestilence.

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What’s Next Now That Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters is Over?

The Transformers Prime series paints a landscape where the Autobots are few and the Decepticons are many.

70234439Transformers Prime is an animated series that is inherently dark. With Beast Hunters being the final season of this saga, Cartoon Network is putting a close to what is perhaps the best of all the re-imaging of Hasbro’s flagship product. Some fans may feel disappointed, and others will have to wonder what will become of the Autobots in their darkest hour. With seven more episodes remaining to be broadcast, hopefully that will be enough to wrap up everything that this series is cumulating to. With Predaking around, the big question is when will Grimlock and the Dinobots appear? IDW Publishing has a comic book featuring this mighty dinosaur. But as for this series, the character of Grimwing has yet to make a full appearance (since he exists as a toy). The battle with the Decepticons is not looking too good with when there is dissention in the air with Ultra Magnus now part of the team.

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