TheRetroCritic

As he took on the very first Star Trek movie, director Robert Wise certainly had his work cut out. Pleasing fans of the original series while translating a somewhat cartoonish 60's show into a legitimate, impressive 70's space opera to rival Star Wars was never going to be easy. How to bring these characters back together? How to update the look of the show without sucking all the iconic charm out of it? Turns out: by making a really long episode :S Yes this Star Trek isn't so much the big, awesome movie you'd expect but rather an extended episode of the original series with different sets, different costumes and better (but still mostly cheesy) effects. Which is not to say it's bad, even if critics and audiences over the years have panned it quite a bit, it's actually very decent (a very decent episode that is). As a movie... Star Wars this isn't. To give you an idea: it takes about 35 minutes for the main crew of The Enterprise to come togeth

Here are some new stills from Tim Burton's upcoming Frankenweenie . Doctor and creation. Comically chunky nosy neighbour. Sparky "in stitches". Some Igor-looking fellow that wasn't in the original short. Bride of... Poodlestein? Big lol Looks visually pretty great and it looks like Mr Burton might just have found his old wit. Can't wait.

By far the weirdest animation of 2009, 9 is really more for hyperactive younger teens than little kids who probably will feel much less stressed out watching Up : 9 is literally one big sci-fi action sequence after another. The film should be applauded for its slightly more subtle environmental message, a rarity these days. Borrowing from 50's sci-fi ( War of the Worlds ) and old horror films ( Frankenstein ) mostly, 9 creates something pretty original and entertaining regardless if not particularly compelling. Dialog and story-wise this is simple, predictable fare with no great surprises and no particularly memorable moments on offer: 9 is bland when it should be bursting with creativity. To be honest, when making a film about hand-made little creatures with stitches, fabrics etc. stop-motion really is the way to go. A lot of texture is lost in the CGI, as detailed as it is, to make room for the scary robots and their big battles. Mixing CGI and stop-motion on this one, muc