The Adventures of Tintin – 3 Buckets

Leave it to Steven Spielberg to use the most cutting-edge in today’s motion-capture technology–in partnership with WETA Digital, the company that did the special effects on Avatar–to make one of the most gloriously… [Read more]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 3 Buckets

When David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo “remake” was announced, the prevailing criticism in the blogosphere was: “Is this really necessary?” Aside from the subtitles, the 2009 Swedish adaptation of the… [Read more]

Defiance – 3 Buckets

Defiance is very much an Edward Zwick picture in that it features adrenaline pumping action and accurately-portrayed history, but it’s missing the filmmaker’s trademark fusion of the two elements. While the movie’s plot may not have lent itself to such a seamless integration—seen in Glory, Blood Diamond, and The Last Samurai—the absence is noticeable in [...]

The Golden Compass – 2 Buckets

Remember those mini-series you’d find on obscure cable-channels as a kid (this, of course, presuming that you grew up in the last twenty years, as I did) that would captivate the heck out of you and even occasionally boggle your mind, only to end with the dreaded phrase “To be continued…”? Remember the feeling of [...]