Beowulf
"Beowulf" reinterprets the English language's oldest narrative through the latest techniques of digital filmmaking. The results are sometimes spectacular, often empty spectacle. The 8th-century poem isn't the stuff of traditional screenplay structure -- it's two hero vs. monster battles separated by a 50-year gap -- and despite an ingenious adaptation by fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman and Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary ("Pulp Fiction"), the tale feels a bit garbled. You watch it with a sense that there are scenes missing. The computer-generated visuals, based on motion-captured performances by the cast, are at once photorealistic (you can count the whiskers in Beowulf's blond b... Read More

I Am Legend
In the apocalyptic sci-fi, "I Am Legend" (Warner big Xmas movie), Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a brilliant scientist who believes he's the sole survivor of a catastrophic plague that has killed most of humanity, while turning the few survivors into mutant vampires. Depressed, sacred, and alone, Neville spends most of his time just trying to survive, but he also looks for a possible cure. Sound familiar? It should. Adapted from the 1954 novel by Richard Metheson, the sci-fi author of "Twilight Zone" and other works, "I Am Legend" is Hollywood's third remake of the source material, first made in 1964 as "The Last Man on Earth," with Vincent Price in the lead role, and then in 1971 a... Read More