Isaac's Film Reviews

Can Pixar change its fate? Full review by Isaac Handelman This isn’t the first time Pixar has been faced with the hefty task of proving, after a disappointing outing the previous year, that it’s still capable of capturing its signature brand of cinematic magic that’s been pleasing people of all ages for fifteen years. In fact, for many,  Brave  hasn’t been so much anticipated based on its own trailers and previews as much as it has been thanks to the need of the collective moviegoer to know whether Pixar’s strong cinematic vision has been recaptured after last year’s mediocre  Cars 2 . That lands the film in a somewhat awkward place as it releases in the midst of a season full of giant superhero sequels and big-budget action outings.  Brave  stars Merida, a spunky, rebellious young princess who flat-out refuses to accept the suitors brought forth to her from neighboring clans. Her mother, Queen Elinor, insists upon her betrothal while her father, the amu...

Big things have small beginnings. Full review by Isaac Handelman At times, Prometheus feels uncannily similar to Alien . Admittedly, Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi and the 1979 sci-fi/horror masterpiece have quite a bit in common: a director, a genre -- heck, they even share a universe. Contrary to all of this, Scott has been quick to shut down speculation that Prometheus is simply an Alien prequel. Despite Prometheus’ cosmetic similarities to its spiritual successor, Scott is absolutely just in this claim; Prometheus explores some intriguing lore and brings up a few biting emotional questions , neither of which Alien was created to explore. Describing  Prometheus  is difficult without giving too much away. The film follows the ship  Prometheus  on her voyage to an undiscovered planet, which a few archaeologists have reason to believe contains secrets of our creation. After a somewhat slow start, their expedition goes horribly wrong, and the team of seven...

Who's the fairest of them all? Full review by Isaac Handelman Somewhere along in their advertising campaign for Snow White and the Huntsman , the folks over at Universal decided, in the middle of a trailer, to declare that “This is no fairytale”. That’s a blatant lie. In fact, this movie has fairies in it. Literally: fairies . No, this is definitely a fairytale, and it puts to use a good many cliches from fairytales past. This incarnation of Snow White tries very hard to distance  -- not remove -- itself from other, more traditional fairytales. Mostly, that means Huntsman is darker, more visceral, and much more violent than your average princess pic. But don’t let that trick you; it’s still a princess pic. It’s got a love triangle, an ultimate evil, a bunch of bizarre, arbitrary fantastical moments, and even true love’s kiss. Thankfully, it’s also somewhat enjoyable. Snow White takes place in a nondescript kingdom set in a generic fantasyland. It seems to be quite an over...