Captain America: Civil War (2016)
[7] It's the third Captain America movie, but since most of the Avengers cast is reunited, it feels more like Avengers 3. Not that it matters -- these movies all start to feel the same anyway. I like how this…
Fantasia (1940)
[7] Walt Disney was somewhat ahead of his time experimenting with music and animation in Fantasia, an astounding achievement of artistry, craftsmanship, and innovation in animation. I dig Fantasia, but it's an uneven mix. The host segments do not stand…
The Way Back (2010)
[6] There's no director I admire more than Peter Weir (Fearless, Mosquito Coast), even if his latest film left me a tad underwhelmed. The Way Back is about a group of men who escape a Russian labor camp during WWII…
The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[8] Dreamworks Animation's maiden voyage is a stunning achievement of sight and sound. Impressionistic background paintings blend with sexy, angular character designs, all set to a brilliant soundtrack by composer Hans Zimmer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. It kills me that…
The Pit (1981)
[6] A sexually infatuated twelve-year-old boy does what his teddy bear tells him to, which includes feeding the locals to a pack of monsters who dwell in a pit in the woods. I don't know what the teddy bear and…
Kaboom (2010)
[4] Queer cinema pioneer Gregg Araki (The Living End, Mysterious Skin) serves up a brightly colored teen sex comedy by way of Twin Peaks with a Dr. Strangelove finale. Like most of Araki's films, there are nice scenes here and…
The Lion King (1994)
[8] The Disney Animation Studios took Shakespeare's Hamlet and transplanted it to the African savanna with an all-animal cast. Buoyed by a hit soundtrack, lush visuals, memorable characters, and a daring blend of intense drama and whacky humor, the film…
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
[8] In this Dreamworks animated fantasy from writer/directors Chris Sanders and Dean DuBlois (the team behind Lilo & Stitch), Jay Baruchel voices a pre-pubescent Viking named Hiccup who lives in an oceanside village where everyone is a dragonslayer. But after…
It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
[5] This atomic-age monster movie features a giant octopus that attacks San Francisco. With the help of special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen, the creature topples some skyscrapers and whacks a piece out of the Golden Gate bridge. Unfortunately, the visual…
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
[7] Richard Beymer (West Side Story) stars as Ernest Hemingway's alter-ego, a young man who comes of age by traveling the country and serving in the military during the early 1900s. With beautiful scenery of rural Michigan and Franz Waxman's…