Cinefantastique Online

The voice of Cinefantastique Online. Updates about what is happening on the website, along with opinion and analysis of the state of the horor, fantasy, and science fiction genres.

Due to technical difficulties that have recently restricted access to the Internet, yesterday’s Sense of Wonder column – “Conservative critics carp at Avatar (surprise!)“ was written in some haste, omitting a couple of points I wanted to make. I came back to add an update at the bottom, but the length of the comments seemed worthy of [...]

ABC News has a doozy of an “article” titled “The Politics of ‘Avatar:’ Conservatives Attack Film’s Political Message“. I use the quotations marks around the word article, because Huma Khan’s piece is not really a work of reporting; it’s a big megaphone to amplify conservative voices, whether or not they have anything to say. Their views [...]

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
The genre delivered big bang at the box office, blowing most of the competition off the screen.
It’s the end of the year. Time to look back and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the last twelve months worth cinefantastique. Before getting into the artistic side of the equation (a thornier problem [...]

Due to technical difficulties, Cinefantastique Online has had to revert to a blog-type format today. For some reason, the automatically generated links to posts are not working, even though the articles are indeed still there. Manually coded links work (whether on this website or from another sitee), as do links from search engines like Google. [...]

Hollywood Reporter’s Risky Biz Blog informs us that the long-discussed remake of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is back in development. Neil Burger (THE ILLUSIONIST) is slated to direct, from a script he is co-writing with Dirk Wittenborn. Few details about the project’s direction are available except that it will differ significantly from previous script that have been developed.

Fancast, which describes itself as the “top entertainment site dedicated to celebrating television,” offers free episodes of television shows like THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THE TWLIGHT ZONE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, STAR TREK, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, and TWIN PEAKS, and such movies as CARNIVAL OF SOULS, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, and DRESSED TO KILL.

Cinefantastique has a long tradition of inclusiveness when it comes to defining the genres it covers. Most recently, we reviewed the mystery-thriller ANGELS & DEMONS because its plot is built around an anti-matter bomb, which technically makes the film science fiction. Having opened the door on the universe of Dan Brown’s novels, and the films adapted from them, I thought I might as well re-post this rant that I composed upon viewing THE Da VINCI CODE in 2006.

How does Pixar manage to maintain such a phenomenally high quality? We have long since passed the point where the law of averages should have caught up with them, yet like a gambler on a winning streak they keep defying the odds.

Dinosaurs are among cinema’s biggest stars. The very sight of them – when achieved with technical competence and some style – is more than enough to stir our Sense of Wonder. With that in mind, we offer a rundown of some of their most impressive on screen apperances.

Our sister website, Hollywood Gothique (”Fantasy Films, Mystery Movies, Halloween Horror & Sci-Fi Cinema Events in Los Angeles”) is giving away tickets to see Far Out Space Films: a four-night series of classic and cult science fiction movies that will be screening at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California.*
Titles include FLASH GORDON, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, E.T. [...]

We usually look forward to Tuesday because it’s the day when new DVDs and Blu-ray discs are released; unfortunately, today is a bad day for cinefantastique on home video. With not much new and exciting happening, we thought we would take refuge in retrospectives, casting a look back on some older items of interest. Since [...]

Cinefantastique Online would like to take this opportunity to offer best wishes to Christopher Lee on this, the occasion of his 87th birthday. The actor was born on May 27, 1922. He has played a wide variety of roles, earning steady work as a character actor, but his claim to stardom rest mostly with fantasy, [...]

Summers seems to start earlier every year. It’s not even June and We are already being bombarded by big-budget blockbusters. There are other genres (comedy, action) on display, but by and large summer is the season when science fiction and fantasy rule the box office (with some horror movies tossed into the mix, in order [...]