The Little Mermaid (1989) Review
The Little Mermaid is the film that started the Disney Renaissance. Ron Clements and John Musker directed.
Movie Reviews (Page 84)
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) Review
The Monty Python troupe consisted of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Brian's mother Mandy reveals that his father was actually a Roman soldier instead of the family's claimed Jewish parentage.
The Lego Movie (2014) Review
The Lego Movie is one of the great American animated films of the 2010s and one of the most substantial commercial cinema surprises of the decade. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had directed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in…
The Jungle Book (1967 / 2016), Contrast Review
The Jungle Book exists in two substantial Disney adaptations across nearly five decades. The 1967 animated production is one of the great classical Disney.
The Jumanji Franchise (1995 / 2017 / 2019) Review
The Jumanji franchise consists of three substantial feature productions across approximately twenty-four years. The 1995 original directed by Joe Johnston.
John Carter (2012) Review
John Carter is one of the most unfairly maligned films of the past fifteen years and one of the most expensive commercial failures in Disney history. The production was Stanton's live-action feature debut after his Pixar work on Finding Nemo…
The Iron Giant (1999) Review
Brad Bird had been working primarily as television animator before The Iron Giant. The film loosely adapts Ted Hughes's 1968 novel The Iron Man, published in the United States as The Iron Giant.
Inside Out (2015) and Inside Out 2 (2024) Review
The film is basically a story about the psychological. Pete Docter built the premise from his own experience watching his daughter Elie change as she entered adolescence.
The Indiana Jones Trilogy (1981, 1984, 1989) Review
Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Temple of Doom in 1984, and The Last Crusade in 1989 form a complete trilogy that arrived before Hollywood started planning trilogies as franchise products. Raiders is the first and the best.
I, Claudius (BBC, 1976) Review
The production budget was approximately three hundred thousand pounds, which was modest even by 1976 BBC standards. Herbert Wise directed all twelve episodes.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Review
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the darkest films Disney has ever released and one of the most thematically ambitious animated features in the studi. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise directed.
Hotel (1983-1988) Review
Hotel is one of the substantial Aaron Spelling 1980s television productions and one of the more enduring American prime-time soap operas of the decade. Aaron Spelling had been one of the most successful American television producers across multiple decades before…
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The craft notes in these reviews come from the same eye Richard Lowe brings to books. He has authored 113+ books and ghostwritten 54+ more across fiction, memoir, and nonfiction. If you want a book that respects the reader the way the best films do, start with a conversation.