The Croods, the new 3D computer-animated feature release from DreamWorks Animation, is the story of a prehistoric family who take a road trip out of necessity.  Patriarch Grug (Nicolas Cage) spends every day protecting his family by alternately leading them on life-endangering family hunting trips and terrifying them into staying in their tiny cave-home with stories about everything in the outside world being potentially deadly.  "Never not be afraid," he says. Daughter Eep (Emma Stone) believes that's no way to live. Her sense of adventure carries her father away from the cave and her dad's …

By the time the bombastic yet tragic minor-keyed Lord of the Rings-type theme music swelled to accompany Jack The Giant Slayer's climactic battle scenes, I was tempted to flamboyantly roll my eyes in slow motion. I couldn't have cared less.   This new release, that was slated for last summer and tellingly sat on the shelf until now, is exceedingly straight-ahead, uninventive and laden with special effects. It leaves the audience feeling like it spent an evening at an expensive restaurant expecting to taste some delicious, innovative dish, only to find themselves digesting a bland, flavorless …

Sometimes a movie is just...bad. We can all watch it and see what they had in mind, how the pitch went, how the director and producers signed on, and talked some pretty big stars into taking part.  And we can see the whole thing derail through to post production, delayed release, and as we watch the finished product with an ever-dwindling vestige of hope. Such is the case for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.   Why Cinema Siren is reviewing this movie at all is a fair question. I go on record as saying there is always a chance a good movie will find its way to the multiplex in January. Not …

December is Oscar time. Filmmakers need to get their movies under the wire so they'll be in contention for this year's awards. Consequently this month is a weird mix of crowd-pleasing mediocrity and painfully long masterpieces that mix horribly with a need for fluff. But what is a movie lover to do? Gotta see them! Having only viewed two of these films (Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook), I'm as in the dark (as it were) as you all are about how truly great these movies are, and how they measure up to each other as far as acting and scripting are concerned. All I know is what I hear, and I'm…

Last year I offered my top 10 Christmas cartoons for the first time. As an animation art gallery owner of 25 years, and an animation historian, I have been studying and enjoying them a long time.   What an uproar I caused! I got a veritable avalanche of emails about the cartoons I "couldn't possibly overlook." While I stand by all last year's excellent offerings, I do have some amendments this year. Here is the list with some considered additions and subtractions.   The cartoons listed below are all classics and are wonderful opportunities for holiday viewing with friends and family. You can …

Are your kids fans of Jack from "The Nightmare Before Christmas", or prefer Dr. Who to the Whos in Whoville, "ParaNorman" is your kind of movie. If this sounds like you, you will be able to relate to and feel sympathy for the hero of ParaNorman. He is not like everyone else. He has trouble fitting in. So many of us horror movie lovers, and fans of zombie, vampire and slasher movies, can relate. Until lately, those kinds of interests just weren't cool.  But Norman has another thing against him. He sees dead people. In the beginning of the story, this bullied and isolated outcast is informed …

In a world where teenagers are the stars and films are green-lit based on the number of explosions, it behooves us adults to put our cinematic money where our mouths are and support films with actors who stand for the older members of the audience, especially when these actors represent the very height of thespian prowess.Hope Springs is about a couple, played by Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, who have been married for 31 years. They venture (at the behest of Streep's character) to Maine to attend a  week of intensive marriage counseling to try to bring back the intimacy missing in their …

Not much is happening in new movies this weekend. Recently, however, all too much happened in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. More about that after my reviews of this weekend's offerings... Step Up Revolution The Watch and Step Up Revolution are the releases, and both have had or should have troubles relating to national headlines. Political correctness is often taken way too far in this country. People seem to waste time better spent with their families or cleaning belly button lint being righteously offended. That being said, let's begin this week talking dance…there's a sequence in the …

Every year about this time, it's the calm before the theatrical storm. Things are winding up in Hollywood, as the studios prepare for their marketing onslaught. Should we, the movie-viewing public, be getting excited? What can we expect this summer? What spectacles are headed our way? You can take stock of all the blockbusters they have pinned their hopes and bank accounts on below. So many movies and A-list actors…you might spend half your summertime in the dark! What are you looking forward to?  "Marvel's The Avengers:" (Releasing May 4) Director: Joss Whedon Starring Robert Downey Jr., …

"Mirror Mirror" is the first and lighter of two movies based on the tale of Snow White to be released this year. It's a charming, sweet, albeit flawed little confection, worth seeing if you love inventive production and costume design, but especially if you have a soft spot for the work of director Tarsem Singh, who supplies some moments of visual brilliance his fans have come to love.When a movie lover walks into a film helmed by Singh, they might have certain expectations. This artistic, controversial director is known for visually stunning yet incomprehensible movies like "The Fall," "The …

"The Secret World of Arrietty," the latest offering from the wildly popular Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli, is being released in the United States in partnership with the Disney Company. First released in Japan on July 17, 2010, the North American version makes its debut Friday.  A tiny girl lives with her mother and father. She and her dad "borrow" all they need for their tiny home on the grounds of a sick human boy's grandmother and curious housekeeper. The boy comes to stay and discovers Arrietty, spurring fear and upheaval in the little household, a house that has a strict rule …

  Cinema Siren is here to help. I really am. I'm also first and foremost a movie lover, who happens to have become a critic to try to get you back into the movie theaters to enjoy that most rewarding of escapist pleasures. Cinema on the big screen is where you might be transported for two hours into another world, guided by artists who aspire to elevate, enliven, transform, or change us with their work. That's my hope. They can't all be winners. I stand by my belief that all movies start out with those involved having aspirations of making something great, promoting the talents of the artists…