Disney

Tangled - Rapunzel tale crowd-pleaser that references the Disney back catalogue

Well animated and funny, although lacking in easy charm and ethical clarity

18 Jan 2011

(PG) 100min Disney’s animation wing has undergone a rebirth since Pixar head John Lasseter took the reins, and this is the third film to benefit from his direct input, following Bolt and The Princess and the Frog. Like those two, Tangled is…

Tron Legacy

State-of-the-art, but with dialogue that only a motherboard could love

10 Dec 2010

(PG) 125min ‘The game has changed,’ announces the poster for Disney’s blockbuster offering for 2010, but despite 3D and innumerable upgrades, Tron-Legacy remains a very similar proposition to 1982’s super-culty box-office flop. With dialogue that…

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

3 Aug 2010

The combination of big-budget producer Jerry Bruckheimer and deep-pocketed studio Disney bore attractive if banal fruit with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but the muddle-headed fantasy The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is more likely to make audiences…

Toy Story 3 and The Illusionist among Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010 highlights

5 May 2010

With The Edinburgh Film Festival 2010, which runs between 16-27 June, only a matter of weeks away, the red carpets are getting waterproofed and the popcorn machines are getting serviced. Now in its 64th year, the twelve day festival, packed with…

Up

More Pixar genius

1 Oct 2009

You almost tire of saying it but Pixar have created another masterpiece with Up. As uplifting as it is heartbreaking, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson’s film is a magical adventure that takes an odd couple relationship and turns it into one of the most…

Rockin' All Over The World

1 Dec 2008

Primal Scream – ‘Swastika Eyes’ You always get to that point of the night where the Scream go on. When we used to tour in a splitter van (a transit van with sections for people and equipment), we'd stop at traffic lights with music blaring and open…

Alien War

27 Nov 2008

In 1979 Ridley Scott’s Alien quite literally burst into the public consciousness as the ultimate in sci-fi horror. In 1986 James Cameron upped the ante with the heart stopping action of sequel Aliens and even if David Fincher’s Alien3 (1992) wasn’t as…

Underdog

(U) 81min

31 Jan 2008

‘This is so much more fun than sticking your head out the car window!’ whoops the gifted canine protagonist of Underdog, a live-action feature from Disney about a crime fighting dog with super-powers. Attractive as this proposition might sound to fans…

Smoking to be axed from Disney films

27 Jul 2007

Disney is poised to axe smoking from films aimed at family audiences and will also ‘discourage’ its portrayal in films released under the Touchstone and Miramax brands. Chief executive Robert AIger made the announcement in a letter to US congressman…

Hitlist - The best theatre & dance

3 Jul 2007

• Othello Bard in the Botanics continues with Shakespeare’s classic of ambition, jealousy and intrigue. Gordon Barr’s production sees an appropriately stifling and claustrophobic use of space employed in the leafy Kibble Palace where the drama is played…