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?