Cinefantastique Online

You are browsing the archives of 2009 February.

Over a decade afters its original release, Hayao Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE remains a monumental achievement in animation, and enthralling adventure-fantasy whose traditional hand-drawn cells easily outclass much of the soulless computerized cartoons of today. Looking back, it is easy to see MONONOKE as part of a trend toward showing some respect for anime when releasing [...]

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on the Hollywood Gothique website on June 10, 2005.]

The premier of HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, shown in the English-dubbed version at El Capitan Theatre on Thursday, June 9, 2005, was a rousing experience for fans of animation master Hayao Miyazaki. Unfortunately, the Japanese writer-director was not on the panel discussing [...]

Complex adult animation from anime-auteur Hayao Miyazaki
Feature film animation was once monopolized by Disney; in the era of CGI, other production companies like DreamWorks and Pixar staked a claim to the territory. But fans of anime know that there is another company that puts out consistently high-quality animation that often surpasses the best of Disney: [...]

Anime auteur Hayao Miyazaki’s amsuing feature film debut is a fun-filled romp
In CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO, superb director and future auteur Hayao Miyazaki made a fine film using established characters. Lupin III is a master thief, created as a manga character in 1967, as by the artist Monkey Punch (Kazuhiko Kata), who was inspired by French [...]

Typical Miyazaki, in all its glorious strengths and frustrating weaknesses
Hayao Miyazaki is rightfully considered one of the great artists working in the anime form. Eschewing the hard-edged violence that many American viewers (rightly or wrongly) associate with the form, Miyazaki creates painterly, pastoral visions filled with beauty and eccentric charm. And unlike much of anime, [...]

An affection tribute to one-half of the team that brought some of the movies’ most memorable monsters to life
Jason and the Argonauts
“Some people say Casablanca or Citizen Kane. I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film ever made.”
Tom Hanks affectionately spoke these words while on stage at the 1992 Academy Awards ceremony for [...]

[ May 8, 2009; ] J.J. Abrams reboots the franchise with this tale of the origins of the crew from the classic 1960s TV series. Frankly, the photos look less like the characters than like a bunch of geeky fans dressed up for a convention, but who knows? Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Eric Bana star. Alex Kurtzman & Roberto [...]

[ May 1, 2009; ] Originally known simply as TERRA, this 2007 animated film from Canada earned some accolades on the festival circuit last year, enough to garner a theatrical release in the U.S. Aristomenis Tsirbas directs. Evan Rache Wood, Luke Wilson, Justin Long, and Brian Cox provide the voices. The story follows an astroanut trying to put a stop [...]

[ May 1, 2009; ] Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert, Michael Douglas, and Emma Stone star in this comedy about a ladies man who finds himself haunted by the ghosts of past girlfriends on the eve of his brother’s wedding. We’re sure that, like Scrooge before him, he will find himself transformed for the better by his supernatural experience. [...]

[ May 1, 2009; ]  Hugh Jackman is back with the adamantium claws in this prequel revealing the back story of Wolverine. Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, and Dominic Monaghan co-star for director Gavin Hood, working from a script by David Benioff, based on the Marvel comic book character. 20th Century Fox releases on May 1.

[ April 17, 2009; ] Burr Steers directs this film about a man who gets a second chance to live his life when he finds himself 17-years-old again. The fantasy conceit of an old person in a young body (or vice versa) seems to have a perrenial appeal, but the trailer for this offers few new wrinkles on the old [...]

[ April 10, 2009 to April 12, 2009. ]  The famous anime franchise reaches the big screen. The story follows an alien who rebels against his mission, which is to assit in a take-over of Earth James Wong directs Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-Fat, and James Marsters, in a screenplay by Ben Ramsey and Wong. 20th Century Fox releases on April 8.

[ March 27, 2009; ] When aliens from outer space invade, it is up to Earth-bound monsters to fend them off. In essence, this is the plot of every Godzilla film since GHIDRAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER. Voices: Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Stephen Colbert, KieferSutherland. Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon. Paramount will release on March [...]