Movie Reviews Archives | Page 40 Of 241

In Doctor Who, Just How Many Lives Does The Master Have Left?

One of Doctor Who’s greatest foes needs more than a makeover. Instead maybe The Master just needs writers who cares to give him what he wants for once, and show how The Doctor attempts to reverse the damage.

The Master throughout the Years The Master was once an exceptional villain in the Doctor Who series, but after revisiting some recent material during the Canadian Thanksgiving, I couldn’t help but consider one unsettling fact. Just how many lives (regnerations) does he have left? Lately, ever since this series returned to the airwaves back in 2005, he’s been burning through his regenerations quite fast and he’s no longer the Wile E. Coyote he once was.

After stealing the body of Tremas, he basically was at his last regeneration until this full on material swap broke the mold. The Time Lords offered a new set to take advantage, but what has changed? How have the rules been altered? While everything has evolved for The Doctor now in his/her 15th incarnation, I got curious and had to revisit past episodes, consult a few guides and figure out what went wrong.

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Steven Kostanski’s Frankie Freako Wants to Party, and We Know How to Find This Crazy Dude!

Frankie Freako is the type of guy who means well, even though at first glance, he’s all punk all the way.

Coming to VOD beginning on October 25
(iTunes and Amazon Prime)

Although four years seems long in between projects, the team of Astron-6 deserves all the credit in a Steven Kostanski led movie, simply titled Frankie Freako. This movie shows just how wonderful puppet gore movies are. As much as I like to use the word puppetcore, that’s the name of a company who produce just as equally wacked out films. Also, they make mostly all puppet productions

When this film includes live-action as part of the equation, what’s presented is very Muppet-like, especially in how they move around the screen. But in this case, instead of revelling in slapstick, the concept delivers the horrific and humour in droves. The last film I saw was Frank and Zed.

That’s because somewhere in space, hobbit-sized characters who want to be like DC Comics’ Lobo insist that they bring their party anywhere in the cosmos. There’s a broadcast where the title character (voiced by Matthew Kennedy) offers to livin up anyone’s doldrum life. When Conor (Conor Sweeny) is an office employee with no gumption to succeed, not even his fellow workers seem to be fighting for inter-office promotions to get a better job. I suspect that before becoming such a Stephen Fry (from Futurama) he had not much of a social life. As for what his wife, Kristina (Kelly Wordsworth) saw in him back when they first dated, not even her sexual advances can stir him up.

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Finding Serenity at Tea Creek Farm. A Documentary in Review

British Columbia is filled with lots of super and naturally charged places. One such place is Tea Creek, and to learn about its history and what it means to a nearby community is important.

Now Playing on CBC Gem

Many Red Seal chefs are well aware of wanting to bring out the flavour of the land from the ingredients in the culinary meals they prepare. While not everyone at home thinks the same way, apparently the indigenous people who work at Tea Creek Farm (located near Kitwanga, BC) do, and they want to educate the world in more ways than one. There’s also how to grow as an individual.

One such person is Ryan Dickle, who no doubt worked here, and his desire to make a documentary, simply titled Tea Creek, is excellent at examining the life and times of Jacob Beaton. He transformed his family farm into a place of learning, to become a centre of community, and to reconnect with nature. This individual got serious with this endeavour about three years ago, and since then, lots of things have changed. Some are for the better, and others, just as worse.

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When Adam and Stuart are Told Don’t F**k With Ghosts, What Are The Lessons Learned?

It’s best not to believe anything presented in Don’t F**k With Ghosts as serious. It’s as fun as a Laverne and Shirley sitcom, and that’s a complement!

Don't F**k With Ghosts Movie Poster Playing at select theatres nationwide

Quite often, fans of the paranormal reality television genre rarely get to look at what goes on behind the making of. Although Don’t F**k With Ghosts does not want to bore viewers with all the meetings and paperwork required to get permission to investigate locations, what it does is to show how some places get chosen, and why some media personalities behave a certain way. Here, the focus is on Adam Rodness and Stuart Stone (Donnie Darko), wanting to make a documentary about ghosts.

In the investigations, this pair of wannabe paranormal investigators rely on the occultists, mediums, and celebrity guests (including a cameo by Colt Cabana) to prove whether ghosts are a product of the mind or just made-up to sell tickets. This cameo blurs the fine line between reality and fiction, and when Ghost Magnet with Bridget Marquardt is also included, I couldn’t help but wonder!

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Everything Computes in The Wild Robot

The beauty that’s found in The Wild Robot concerns how to let go, and reuinite with those who you love. It doesn’t matter if the species is man, machine or mammal.

The Wild Robot is a perfect return to form. When Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois are working together to craft (or adapt) a story, there’s magic to behold. Although I can recognize the tropes they’ve been using ever since Lilo and Stitch (concerning runts of the litter and the Ugly Duckling motif), what’s presented in DreamWorks latest is a variation of that formula. Here, it’s about the relationship between machines and nature.

Here, the focus is on how creatures all great and small can get along and is more concerned about survival in a wild frontier. When a delivery of robots gets lost during a storm, I can imagine the company who made them can always build more rather than retrieve the items for scrap. As for the one who activated, Fink (Pedro Pascal) bypasses his natural fox instinct to teach the machine about the rules of the jungle.

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Celebrating Despicable Me 4 Home Video Release and Benny’s Birthday Surprise!

Long time fans of this franchise can now binge watch all four of the Despicable Me films, or just enjoy more Minion Mayhem stitched together, assuming they’re willing to get off the couch to change discs.

Despicable Me 4 Blu-ray — Available to purchase on Amazon USA

Illumination Studios

The Despicable Me franchise has some amazing staying power, and I’m always interested in what new wacky adventures Gru’s family can have. I reviewed this movie when it was at theatres, and as always, am interested in what’ll get offered in the home video release. They never fail to deliver some hilarious short. That’s why I keep on buying them over streaming (I’m in the camp that should a film get pulled, I can’t revisit the movie when I want to) or asking for review copies. I must thank Universal Studios as the Despicable Me 4 package arrived before my birthday. I celebrated my day with Benny’s Birthday short.

Here, this Minion is afraid of what the others planned. That’s because he’s stuck in a temporal loop, and he can’t figure out how to escape. By the time the cake arrives, he gets hurt, and the day starts all over again! How he breaks free is not too unexpected. It’s tough to find fault with these shorts because the works of Mack Sennett inspired most of them. He’s the Silent Film King of Comedy, and in his vast catalogue of works, there’s plenty to borrow from.

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