Artemis Fowl: More Foul Than Fair.

Watching Disney's Artemis Fowl reminded me of Percy Jackson and the Olympians:The Lightning Thief, another infamous adaptation based on the first installment of a well-known book series. Neither did a proper job of adapting its source material; heavily changing the main story and leaving out crucial elements from the book. 

Scoob! is a Catastrophic Case too Confounding to Crack

As a kid, I always looked forward to the next case Mystery Inc. had on their hands, whether it be the classic Where Are You? era, accompanied by celebrity guest stars (The New Scooby-Doo Movies), trapping ghosts in a cursed chest (The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo), as children during Scooby's puppy years (A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) or set in a more modern era where Simple Plan sing the best iteration of the Scooby-Doo theme song (What's New Scooby-Doo?). The high point for the franchise came with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. The gang had grown-up, the mystery was darker, the monsters were real but the camaraderie between Scooby and the gang was alive and well. It even found time to poke fun at its own formulaic formula. It was everything that the live-action film from 2002 tried to be but failed. The movies that took place in Zombie Island's continuity were more lighter fare but had their own merits from the inclusion of Tim Curry and the Hex Girls in Witch's Ghost, Shaggy and Scooby finding love in Alien Invaders, and a digital encounter with their classic counterparts in Cyber Chase.   

Double Review: Onward & The Way Back

Two paths to take. Which should you choose? To go Onward with Pixar or The Way Back with Ben Aflleck? One is a fantasy adventure of two brothers bonding together on a road trip and the other is sports drama about a man given a second chance in life. 

Birds of Prey and the Missed Opportunity Because Harley Quinn had to be the Center of Attention

If you were expecting another home-run for DC with another female superhero movie, you'll have to wait until Wonder Woman 1984. It's a shame because the crime-fighting Birds of Prey team have had better iterations on television, only to be secondary characters in their own movie to make way for a certain popular psycho player to draw in the crowd....

Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon is a Brilliant Sci-Fi Silent Comedy

Since the days of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, silent comedy is rarely seen these days. It flourished for a time in animation, serving as the template to some of the best cartoons like Tom & Jerry and The Pink Panther. In recent years, Britain has mastered the genre not once but twice with Mr. Bean and Shaun the Sheep. With six seasons and a feature film, Shaun is Aardman's most successful franchise next to Wallace & Gromit, and the first Aardman sequel.

Cinema Spotlight VIII - Leigh Whannell (Part 3): "The Invisible Man"

Cecilia "Cee" Kass (Elizabeth Moss) unaware that
someone is watching her.  

Since the success of The Mummy films starring Brendan Fraser, Universal has tried to revive their classic monster movies with no avail from Van Helsing, The Wolfman and Dracula Untold, Not even a third attempt of a mummy movie from Tomb of the Dragon Emperor or the Tom Cruise starring vehicle, that was meant to jump start a cinematic Dark Universe. Had the Dark Universe proceeded as planned, Johnny Depp would have been next in line to portray the Invisible Man but since that ship sunk, Universal pushes the reboot button once again with the project now in the hands of Leigh Whannell.

Cinema Spotlight VIII- Leigh Whannell (Part 2): "Upgrade"

Insidious Chapter 3 gave a small dosage of body horror during the film's climax as the evil ghost became flesh by taking possession of a living human body. Adding to the creep factor is that despite the body's serious injury of two broken legs, the ghoul is able to walk with no problem. Whannell makes this the center piece for in his next film as it stems away from the paranormal and into the technological...

Cinema Spotlight VIII - Leigh Whannell (Part 1): "Insidious: Chapter 3"

Stefanie Scott (known for her Queen Bee role on Disney Channel's A.N.T. Farm) 
as Quinn Brenner in Insidious Chapter 3.

Before he was trapped by Jigsaw with Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell dreamed of being a story-teller whether as an actor or a writer. He got his chance while attending college in his home county of Australia where he met best friend and future collaborator James Wan. During the years that lead to the creation of Saw, Whannell served as a film critic on a television program called Recovery (think of it as Australia's version of nineties MTV). Fun Fact: Angus Sampson was among the cast and a writer of the show who would work with Whannell again in the Insidious movies as the ghost-tracking duo Specs and Tucker.

Sonic the Hedgehog: A Serviceable Sega Story.

If you recall in my Angry Birds 2 review, video game movies don't have a good track record. The late 2000's through the 2010's opted a more serious approach but fell short with the likes Max Payne, Silent Hill, War Craft and Assassin's Creed. Tomb Raider and Rampage came close but were still a little far-off. It wasn't until last year that Detective Pikachu and Angry Birds 2 seemingly broke the curse as the first video game films to get positive feedback. Could Sonic the Hedgehog do the same or should Illumination cancel the Mario film while they still can?

Top 10 Best Films of 2019

Now that the worst is out of the way, it's time to look at the best of 2019. While there were plenty of good films there weren't many great ones. Some on repeated viewings didn't hold up well, while others surprisingly got better that I regret the rating I gave it. Looking at the number of films I saw in 2019, it's less than what I saw in 2018. I watched about seventy movies that year, but for last year, I saw about sixty. Even then, there were many still I missed; my sincerest apologies to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Richard Jewell, Deep Waters, Just Mercy, Honey Boy, Dolomite is My Name, Waves and The Last Black Man in San Francisco to name few.

Top 10 Worst Movies of 2019

New year, new decade, but bad movies are forever. Just like last year, I prefer to get the worst out of the way before getting to the best. Admittedly, I skipped on a lot of bad movies from The Curse of La Llorona, Playing with Fire, The Hustle, Countdown, Replicas, and Charlie's Angels. The trailers were enough to convince me to stay away, and their negative reception confirmed my suspicion. The ones that made my list, I went in thinking I'd seeing something above average, and man was I wrong.