The fact that the great beast from the depths of the sea haunts the human imagination may account in part at least for the appearance of “Pacific Rim,” perhaps the most excessive blockbuster of the season. The sea monster that threatened Andromeda, the mother and son duo that Beowulf fought, Moby Dick, the great white […]
special effects
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“The Lone Ranger”
As history demonstrates, the law of the conservation of matter applies magnificently to Hollywood, where nothing, it seems, is ever wasted, lost, or forgotten. The Lone Ranger galloped through decades of radio shows, comic books, television series, and movies, yet returns once again, with his faithful Indian companion Tonto and his white horse Silver, only […]
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“World War Z”
The current proliferation of zombie books, movies, and television shows suggests that we now dwell in the time of the living dead, a horrible but not entirely surprising prospect. Born in the 1930’s, the most creative decade in cinema history, the genre reflected some particular realities of its era — the fact of race, the […]
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“Now You See Me”
Bank-robbing magicians is the basic idea behind “Now You See Me,” and it’s such a ridiculous and yet ingenious premise for a movie that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before now. The marriage of magic to the heist film genre is a natural fit; both require a fair amount of misdirection, sleight-of-hand, and […]
