Posts tagged WETA Workshop
MOVIE REVIEW: The Great Wall
MOVIE REVIEW: The Great Wall

"The Great Wall" is an imposing creature feature that stands as a three-headed glamour project.  You have an A-list star venturing overseas for international credibility and a splashy director landing his official English-language debut.  Aiming higher in aspiration is a production company hoping to open a new and profitable pipeline of investment between Hollywood and China.  Visually splendid from top to bottom, this epic adventure squeaks by on its looks and spares no expense to make sure of that.

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2016, 2017, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAMC River East 212016, 2017, The Great Wall, Matt Damon, Zhang Yimou, China, international films, Andy Lau, Willem Dafoe, Tony Gilroy, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Universal Pictures, Legendary Entertainment, Ramin Djawadi, Shigeru Umebayashi, Tan Dun, Basil Poledouris, Jerry Goldsmith, WETA Workshop, Zhao Xiaoding, Stuart Dryburgh, John Myhre, Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, John McTiernan, The 13th Warrior, Zhang Hanyu, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, movie reivew, movie review, film review, movie commentary, film commentary, life lessons from film, Life Lessons, life lessons from movies, Life lessons, creature featureComment
ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

With the arrival of "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," we have made it to the payoff.  This big story gets its ending, its tidy bow, and its cherry-on-top.  Even if you think the movie studio was milking you for three movie tickets over three years out of a book that probably could have fit into a single film, you now get to see your patience rewarded and your virtue justified.  You will realize it was worth it.  You will feel like you stuck around to see "Superman" save the world, you survived the walk down those basement stairs in "Psycho," and you partied with the Ewoks and spirit Jedis in "Star Wars."  

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2014, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARSDon ShanahanThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Movie trilogies, Guillermo del Toro, Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch, J.R.R. Tolkien, Luke Evans, Gandalf the Grey, Ian McKellan, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Manu Bennett, WETA Digital, WETA Workshop, Performance capture, Oscar hopefuls, Oscar nominations, Oscar winners, Howard Shore, io9, Fantasy films, Fantasy genre, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Don Shanahan, Donald Shanahan, movie commentary, Movie review, film commentary, film review, film music, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, life lessons from film, Film music, Cinematography, movie reviewComment