Cinefantastique Online

You are browsing the archives of 2009 July.

The ICE AGE films represent 20th Century Fox’s attempt to cash in on the lucrative computer-animated family fantasy film market. As such, they are reasonably successful in terms of box office, if occasionally problematic in terms of storytelling, relying on CGI sight gags and the voice cast to pull the movies over any narrative humps.
ICE [...]

It’s a testament to the outrageous lengths that New Line Pictures had taken the FRIDAY THE 13TH series after acquiring the rights to the Jason character from Paramount, that there was nowhere to go but back to the beginning. JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY transformed the summer camp-lurking mass murderer into a non-corporeal [...]

The latest adventure of Scrat – the tenacious, frantic, and endearing prehistoric squirrel-rat creature – hit the big screen this weekend, and the beloved animated character delivered even more laughs than usual. As we all know, Scrat’s raison d’etre- his white whale, his holy grail – is the pursuit of an acorn, which he follows with [...]

Universal Studios Hollywood officially premiered the newest attraction on its famous theme park tour, a live stage musical titled THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON: A RAGING, ROCKIN SHOW. This twenty-five minute show condenses the plot from the 1954 classic, starring Richard Carlson and Julie Adams, adding a bunch of songs and dialogue heavy with [...]

[ July 31, 2009; ] THIRST - the bloody vampire-drama-tragedy from Korean writer-director Park Chan-wook – has been scheduled for a July 31 release in the U.S., courtesy of Universal Studios’s boutique label, Focus Features. Fans of Park’s earlier work (OLD BOY, SYMPATHEY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, LADY VENGEANCE, THREE EXTREMES) will see much that is familiar, but this time the meticulous cinematic [...]

[ July 31, 2009 to August 2, 2009. ] Teenagers protect their vacation home from invading aliens who have taken over the top floor of the dwelling. Director: John Schultz. Stars: Ashley Tisdale, Robert Hoffman, Carter Jenkins. Studio: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.

[ July 24, 2009 to July 26, 2009. ] You thought chihuahuas were cute – well, how about this: a specially trained squad of guinea pigs battles a diabolical billionaire to foil his evil plan. In 3-D yet!  Hoyt Yeatman directs this computer-animated fantasy-comedy from Wat Disney Studios. Will Arnett, Penélope Cruz, Zach Galifianakis, Nicolas Cage, Steve Buscemi, and Tracy Morgan provide the voices.

[ July 15, 2009 to July 19, 2009. ] Things get dark in Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts, as the inevitable confrontation with Voldemort grows ever closer. Except blood, tragedy, and tears… Director: David Yates. Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint. Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures.

[ July 1, 2009 to July 5, 2009. ] The beloved animated characters are back in action and apparently going back in time, since the dinosaurs lived and died well before these wooly mammoths and sabre-tooth tigers, etc. Whatever, as long as Scrat is back, yearning for his beloved acorn, we’re happy (and this time he meets a female of the species). Director: Carlos [...]

[ July 10, 2009 to July 12, 2009. ] [caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Spectacular action wire-work, choreographed by Corey Yuen "][/caption]

The folks over at Sci Fi Japan sound pretty excited about the U.K. trailer for BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, but I find my own enthusiasm considerably more muted. Slated for theatrical release in Japan on May 29 and in the U.K. on June 12, [...]

[ July 24, 2009; ] Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman and CCH Pounder star in this tale of a young couple who lose their own child and end up adopting another one, whose angelic appearance may disguise her true nature. Script by David Leslie Johnson. Direction by Jaume Collet-Serra, who inflicted the HOUSE OF WAX remake on an unfortunate [...]