Oz the Great and Powerful

Gravity defying cliffs and stony archways are all well and good, but when you simply plop an actor into a wide shot without explaining how the hell they climbed up the sheer cliff face, it ruins the illusion. There are a great deal of scenes that appear to have been shot in a greenscreen studio, but thankfully we are treated to some good old fashioned sets also.
Rating: 3.0 starsHoopla Factor: 3.0 stars Continue reading Oz the Great and Powerful

Life of Pi

An incredible amount of work must have gone into bringing the tiger to life, so much so that I was frequently unsure if I was looking at a CGI creation or a real life creature. It isn’t flawless – there are moments, particularly those dimly lit, where I was aware I was viewing something made on a computer – but overall this is easily amongst some of the best CGI work I’ve ever seen.
Rating: 5.0 starsHoopla Factor: 5.0 stars Continue reading Life of Pi

Clash of the Titans

I am simply incredulous at just how hideously awful the CGI was. You can list all the common offences of bad CGI here – the creatures are without detail, don’t fit in with the real locations or actors, nor do they move in a believable fashion. But that’s not all. Even the digital matt paintings look poor.
Rating: 0.5 starsHoopla Factor: 1.0 stars Continue reading Clash of the Titans

The Road

The special effects are fantastic – this beats any of the more glamorous and showy dystopic visions hands down. The cinematography is completely devoid of warm colours (excepting some flashbacks); instead we are shown just how many shades of grey one can create.
Rating: 4.5 starsHoopla Factor: 4.5 stars


This is an extraordinary portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world that removes all the ‘glamour’ from that phrase and replaces it with desolation, destruction and hopelessness.
Rating: 4.5 starsHoopla Factor: 5.0 stars Continue reading The Road

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is chaotic and sprawling in a manner that ruins the quirky ideas and wondrous fantasies afforded by the premise. We often get to go inside the Imaginarium (filled with pretty but low budget CGI landscapes) and whilst it’s kind of cool, we have no understanding of what kind of rules apply when inside.
Rating: 2.5 starsHoopla Factor: 3.0 stars Continue reading The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus