Isaac's Film Reviews

It's Studio Ghibli's first film without Miyazaki in the director's chair. Does it match up? Full review by Isaac Handelman In an era where cinema aims at sweeping grandeur, breathtaking set-pieces and mind-bending narratives, it isn’t surprising that Studio Ghibli sticks firmly to the less-trodden path with their latest picture, The Secret World of Arrietty. Whilst lacking the excitement thrills, or silly humor of the typical family film offering, this by no means denotes Arrietty to lower standings. In fact, it’s bound to be one of the strongest animated offerings of the year.  Taking center stage is thirteen year old Arrietty, a “borrower”, who lives with her mother and father in a makeshift house under the home of a human family. The trio makes a living by taking small necessities from the humans, sticking to a strict compact of only taking what’s absolutely needed. When a sickly boy named Shaun moves in with the humans, he promptly spots Arrietty, and the two e...

Proving that a small budget can do big things -- one take at a time. Full review by Isaac Handelman The distribution of a film with no big names behind it is a dangerous bet for a studio to make. While some manage to become dark horse hits or cult classics, others crash and burn in every conceivable way. It’s for this reason that I’m thankful to 20th Century Fox for giving Chronicle the chance it deserves. There’s no way one of Hollywood’s powerhouses would have been able to conjure up this quirky little found-footage sci-fi flick. Only someone with big dreams and a small budget would have been able to make Chronicle work. Superhero flicks aren’t hard to come by these days, so it would be easy for some to dismiss  Chronicle  as just one more cookie-cutter entry in an overcrowded genre. That would be a huge mistake. The film isn’t a super hero movie as much as it is a super power movie. It focuses on Andrew, Matt, and Steve a newfound trio of friends who inherit myst...