Disney

Television: “Goosebumps” — Disney’s Subpar Version of “Stranger Things”

October 29, 2023
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Goosebumps is pretty much a failure as a series because it lacks most of R.L. Stine’s entertaining alchemy.

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Film Review: Lorca, Cthulhu, Cosmic Horror… “The Little Mermaid”

May 22, 2023
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The dehumanization in The Little Mermaid is not just a matter of the absence of craft; at heart, this is a cynical investment that can’t transcend its craven essence.

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Film Review: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” — Payback’s a Bitch

April 29, 2023
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Armed with a quarter of a billion dollars from the people who chucked him to the MAGA wolves, director James Gunn has created one of the most mean-spirited and nasty movies to have come down the pike since Straw Dogs.

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Television Review: Disney’s Live-Action “Pinocchio” — A Necessary Remake

September 20, 2022
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There are cringe-worthy moments as well as scenes of mesmerizing beauty in Disney’s live-action Pinocchio. But I’ll go against the critical grain and argue, for several small reasons, and for one big one, that it was necessary to make it.

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Film Review: “Polar Bear” — A Mother’s Tale of Survival in the Arctic

May 2, 2022
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The protagonist of this engrossing, and troubling, story must draw on all her accumulated knowledge in order to cope with degradations to her habitat caused by what we, the viewers, know as global warming/climate change.

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Film Commentary: What Disney’s “Encanto” Says About Colombian Realities

February 23, 2022
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In Colombia and Encanto, willful ignorance is the price paid for reassurance.

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Music Documentary: “The Beatles: Get Back” — Back to Where They Once Belonged

December 7, 2021
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Who else, but The Beatles, could command this much attention, of this many people, for that long of a time, and still be interesting, even joyous?

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Film Review: “Raya and the Last Dragon” — An Animated Plea for Unity

June 16, 2021
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In addition to generalizations about Asian cultures — the voice actors come from a variety of Asian, but not all Southeast Asian, backgrounds — there are other issues a grown-up viewer might object to.

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Film Review: Disney’s “Cruella” — Fashionably Evil

May 27, 2021
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Cruella is by far the best of the Disney reboots.

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Television Review: “Howard” — Homage to One of the Greatest Artists of the 20th Century

August 19, 2020
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The great lyricist behind the Disney renaissance receives a moving tribute.

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