Kung Fu Panda (2008) Watch Streaming

A master [course] in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment.. Very much a Hollywood production -- formulaic, made for marketing and never quite as inspired as it could have been.. The movie has lean, to-the-point simplicity, which is refreshing in an era when so many films take needlessly bloated, talky routes into their story (for more on this, see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).. The message -- believe in yourself even when all evidence suggests you shouldn'...

0441773

Read more »

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) Full Movie Streaming

For the most part, this epic adventure steers a true course through storm and sacrifice, and arrives triumphant.. A plain old good movie.. It never achieves the visual elegance or majesty that a David Lean might have provided. The story line isn't the freshest. And yet the film is satisfying all the same.. The film contains brilliantly crafted scenes and shots that are as compelling as anything seen onscreen this year, but there are also dull stretches in which the movie seems lightweight -- nev...

0311113

Read more »

The Croods (2013) Download Movie

It may not be an instant animated classic, but it's a charmer that will leave the kids ... feeling warm and fuzzy .... While their situation sounds dire, "The Croods" is not. The DreamWorks animated film has enough slapstick humor, furry sidekicks and zippy 3-D action sequences to keep the story light.. Had the movie figured out a way to stay the less-cliched course, it might have helped the DreamWorks oeuvre take steps toward Pixar's emotional resonance.. This movie not only has its heart in th...

0481499

Read more »

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) Play Movie

It's a pleasant irony that, just as the first installments of Rowling's oeuvre were better suited to page than screen, the final installments have reversed the relationship.. It all gets exhaustingly bombastic although, sequence by sequence, Man of Steel is something worth seeing.. The plot is about a fearful society whose expansion of its security apparatus has unintended consequences, but Singer doesn't even touch the story's topical resonances... There's also no real moral quandary to be grap...

1201607

Read more »

X2: X-Men United (2003) Full Movie Streaming

I have seen the future of 3-D moviemaking, and it belongs to Martin Scorsese, unlikely as that may sound.. Moves with the lightning speed, raw power and athletic grace of, well, a genetically mutated superhero.. If ever the movie gods were to smile on an adaptation, it would be Scorsese's take on Selznick's bestselling book, a valentine to the cinematic artists whose work the filmmaker has toiled so tirelessly to champion and preserve.. It's a fairy tale for mature viewers, but the airy exterior...

0290334

Read more »

Into the Woods (2014) Play Streaming

Marshall's film captures enough of the emotions that course through this sneaky fairy tale about childish things like love, sex, grief, insecurity, abandonment, and forbearance.. A capable cast and some very fine songs, but parents should take note of the dark themes. This Disney movie ain't kid stuff.. The Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine 1987 musical Into the Woods has been transferred to the screen by director Rob Marshall with most of its complexities and light-dark tonalities intact.. With the...

2180411

Read more »

Mission to Mars (2000) Watch Streaming

The excellent performances by the cast are also what raise this movie well above your ordinary action movie.. The film conceals as much as it reveals, and its beauty is that it pretends to do nothing else. It embraces a mystery and protects it, and it’s thrilling to behold.. A movie can have a superb story, amazing cinematography, and mesmerizing writing as well as directing, but without the talent to deliver it all, it finds itself lacking. Great!!. Absolutely one of the greatest, most cringe-...

0183523

Read more »