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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "SHREK FOREVER AFTER" AN UNHAPPY ENDING TO ILLUSTRIOUS FRANCHISE

By Brian Lafferty

 


May 22, 2010 (San Diego)--In 2001 Dreamworks released Shrek. Based on a children’s book, the movie was an inventive, clever, and witty satire of fairy tales. It was a huge hit and spawned three sequels, the last of which being Shrek Forever After.

 

AS A REVENGE MOVIE, “EDGE OF DARKNESS” COMES UP SHORT

 


By Brian Lafferty

 

February 8, 2010 (San Diego)--The first scene of Edge of Darkness is a home movie featuring a little girl at the beach. This little girl is the daughter of a Boston Detective (Mel Gibson) who grows up to be a trainee at a corporation specializing in handling nuclear waste. Within the first five minutes, Gibson’s daughter comes home, gets sick, then is shot to death and dies in Gibson’s arms. After learning who was behind his daughter’s murder, he swears revenge against the evil corporation.

ON THE SILVER SCREEN: “THE LOVELY BONES” OVERCOMES ROUGH START, BUOYED BY CONVINCING PERFORMANCES

 

 By Brian Lafferty

 


January 31, 2010 (San Diego’s East Count) -- The Lovely Bones is a movie that had me sitting on the fence the entire time I was watching it, right down to the end credits. This was a film where it isn’t as easy as yes or no in terms of recommending it and strong arguments can be made from either side.

ON THE SILVER SCREEN: HEATH LEDGER’S SWAN SONG, “DOCTOR PARNASSUS,” A VISUALLY SUMPTUOUS, WELL-ACTED TREAT

 

 


By Brian Lafferty

 


January 12, 2009 (San Diego’s East County)--While watching The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus I could not help but remember a film with elements similar to it. That film would be The City of Lost Children, a 1995 French film co-directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) and Marc Caro. Like The City of Lost Children, Doctor Parnassus contains eccentric characters (in both physical appearance and personality), lush cinematography and set design, and an interesting narrative that is barely coherent yet rewarding at the same time. I loved it.

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