It would be hard to overstate the excellence of DOCTOR STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB. Stanley Kubrick’s masterful dark comedy took the grimmest of concepts — the world on the brink of the apocalypse as a rogue American general (Sterling Hayden) orders a nuclear strike on Russia — and played it for laughs without managing to dilute any of the horror of the situation. With Peter Sellers serving triple-duty in three incredible performances as the noble Captain Mandrake, ineffectual American president Merkin Muffley, and the sinister ex-Nazi science adviser Dr. Strangelove — given considerable support by George C. Scott as the gung-ho General “Buck” Turgidson and Slim Pickens as the too-committed B52 pilot T.J. “King” Kong — DR. STRANGELOVE comes about as close to cinematic perfection as the field will ever see, and remains a potent cautionary tale fifty years on.

All things considered, there are definitely worse ways to see out the year. 47 RONIN, the historical fantasy mash-up that sees Keanu Reeves inserted — along with witches, dragons, and mystical warriors — into the legendary tale of a samurai revolt, may not be the high-water-mark in fantastic film for 2013. But in its gripping story, its fine cast — including Hiroyuki Sanada as a  samurai seeking vengeance on the duplicitous Lord who disgraced his master, Rinko Kikuchi (late of PACIFIC RIM) as a scheming witch, and Kô Shibasaki as a doomed love-interest for Reeves — and its ability to respect the legend and the culture of feudal Japan while still delivering up the kinds of fantastical creatures and fleet action sequences that can satisfy modern audiences, it certainly makes for some corking entertainment.

The Cinefantastique Spotlight: HER

And, after all the paranormal activities and interstellar warfare and superhero histrionics and marooned astronauts and rampaging monsters and quasi-mythical heroes and super-powered teens (soooooo many super-powered teens…), it comes down to this: One man, broken but beautiful, who in the near future finds himself falling in love with his computer’s surprisingly human operating system.

The appeal of the Grand Adventure is clear and incontestable: the epic scale; the sense of mystery and adventure; the thrill of discovering what challenge, adversary, or ally awaits around the next bend. Thing is, the whole point of the exercise is to reach an ultimate goal, and that’s where Peter Jackson’s HOBBIT movies — both of them, to date — have been having problems. Picking up where the previous film, AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, left off, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, seeks to continue the J.R.R. Tolkien tale of a band of dwarfs, key among them Thorin (Richard Armitage) and Kili (Aidan Turner) — aided and abetted by the hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and the wizard Gandalf  (Ian McKellan) — as they challenge the fearsome dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) and attempt to reclaim their kingdom, but gets so lost in its tangents, side-histories, and ancillary characters that it manages to botch even the key confrontation promised in the title.

⅞☆☆☆☆

0.9 stars for Steve Biodrowski’s 1308‑word review of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” on Cinefantastique

http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2013/11/the-hunger-games-catching-fire-review

Steve Biodrowski’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review” is burnt up in a conflagration of typos and spoilers.

When a casual reader stumbles across a single typo or grammatical error, the author is forgiven; when a casual reader stumbles across six, the author is written off. Whether fair or not, it happens.

Biodrowski’s review has at least six typos and grammatical errors that will draw even the casual reader’s notice and ire. The worst offender: the “ly” is conspicuously left off “relentless” in two consecutive sentences.

There are tidbits of interesting analysis. He posits that Jennifer Lawrence’s performance is something less than luminous, calling her one of the movie’s “sullen leads”.   But whatever interesting things Biodrowski has to say are lost among the typos—and seriously ugly font.

Biodrowski’s worst sin, however, is his disregard for spoilers. Instead of providing a spoiler warning at the top of the review where readers have a chance to avoid reading altogether, he provides it in the middle—exactly where unsuspecting readers’ eyes might glance at spoilers that could ruin a huge plot twist.  More than one reader casually scrolling down will have a major surprise ruined.

Readers are advised to avoid this mess of a spoiler laden review.

Buy Tickets: fandango.com/thehungergames:catchingfiredoublefeature2013_167747

Original Post: e.xst.ma/tm/662G

More Reviews: e.xst.ma/t/m/771250004

Rotten Tomatoes: rottentomatoes.com/m/771250004