Our film odyssey continues with the first film in a new kind of movie franchise, based on a wildly popular book series about wizard school.
Category Archives: Fantasy
SPIRITED AWAY (2001)
An incredibly beautifully animated film about a 10-year-old girl figuring out how to solve her own problems, while also giving baths to monsters, it helped turn Studio Ghibli into a global brand.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
The last of the 2007 AFI Top 100 for us to cover is also an all-time favorite of mine. All of my dogs are named after its characters. But how to parse whether one of the parts of what is basically one long three-part movie is one of the best films of all time on its own?
SCROOGE (1951)
Alastair Sim plays the title character in what was considered for decades to be maybe the definitive version of the Dickens story, though I was a little thrown by the way the movie makes up a bunch of extra bits of Scrooge’s origin story for no discernible reason.
FANNY OCH ALEXANDER (1982)
Ingmar Bergman’s final film is about kids at Christmas, and also basically every other thing you can think of.
THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970)
After the passing this week of the great Dean Stockwell, we revisit his very weird performance in a Roger Corman HP Lovecraft adaptation because… I felt like it.
THE FRIGHTENERS (1996)
The vote winner for our Halloween Feature is more interested in its (now somewhat dated) special effects than in, you know, being a good movie in any particular way, unfortunately.
DRACULA (1931)
The vampire movie from which all others are descended, Bela Lugosi’s very specific performance and many creepy gothic visuals overcome its period limitations.
THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
One of the goriest movies you’ll ever see, made on a very skinny shoestring by a bunch of friends, which seems to ask “what would be most disturbing at this moment?” and then do that.
LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO (1960)
A seminal Italian horror classic that takes whatever you think of when you hear the word “gothic” and is way more gothic than that.
Movie Valhalla 