DVD Verdict:
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is exactly what I was expecting; sadly no more, but gratefully no less. The film wallows in convention, but does so with skill and pacing. The characters are cut from the same stock as almost every movie of this ilk (the wisecracking sidekick, the tough yet gentle love interest, the handsome but bland lead character), but just likable enough not to be overly grating. Director Chris Columbus (who helmed the first two films in the Harry Potter series) puts it all together with polished professionalism, but little else; here is a movie that just seems so…standard. Before the film ended, I knew every twist and turn coming without fail. There were no surprises, no original story arcs, nor anything overly exciting (or disappointing) when it came to the gargantuan special effects sequences. Welcome to yet another prefabricated teen action movie.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 being greenlit for a live action movie already is a serious risk for Universal.
Turns out that Joel Miller is more like Sonny Koufax than he would want to admit.
Zack Snyder and James Gunn’s Dawn of the Dead shares a title with Romero’s classic, but it’s like a cover song that remixes the original—you recognize it, but it’s dancing to its own beat.
