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Arrow Video celebrates 25 years of Tarsem Singh’s visionary horror movie The Cell (2000) with a brand new 4K Ultra HD release that is now available in the United States.

Featuring a fresh new 4K restoration, the new release also boasts a previously unseen cut of the film, and you can preview the restoration and that unseen cut with the trailer below.

Sublime, grotesque and visually ravishing, director Tarsem Singh’s debut feature delivers on the extraordinary artistry of his work in music video and commercials as it takes the audience on a journey through the bizarre worlds inside the mind of a killer.

When serial murderer Carl Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio) falls into a coma with his latest victim still trapped in an unknown location and waiting to die, the FBI turn to psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) for help. Using an experimental technology she enters the dark dreamscape of Stargher’s mind,...

The Cell will enter the mind of a killer on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on January 21, 2025 via Arrow Video. The 2000 psychological sci-fi horror film will be celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Tarsem Singh directs from a script by Mark Protosevich. Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, and Vincent D’Onofrio star with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jake Weber, and Dylan Baker.

The theatrical and director’s cuts have been newly restored in 4K, approved by Singh, with Dolby Vision. An alternate version of the theatrical cut created by director of photography Paul Laufer is also included.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

Theatrical cut (107 min) Director’s cut (109 min) Audio commentary with film scholars Josh Nelson & Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (new) Audio commentary with screenwriter Mark Protosevich & film critic Kay Lynch (new) Audio commentary with director Tarsem Singh Audio commentary with director of photography Paul Laufer, production designer Tom Foden, makeup supervisor Michèle Burke, costume designer April Napier, visual effects supervisor Kevin Tod Haug,...

Italian A-list actor Pierfrancesco Favino, who just scored a European Film Award nomination for his role in “Nostalgia,” is set to play heroic Sicilian World War II naval officer Salvatore Todaro in “Comandante.” Directed by rising auteur Edoardo De Angelis, the film is an ambitious anti-war epic that has required the construction of a life-size steel submarine.

Belgian multihyphenate Johan Heldenbergh, who wrote and starred in “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” plays the captain of an enemy ship.

Cameras have started rolling in the southern port city of Taranto on this meticulous reconstruction of an act of wartime humanitarianism that has gone down in naval history annals. It took place in the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 15, 1940, when Todaro as commander of the submarine Cappellini sank a Belgian merchant ship called Kabalo that was carrying aircraft parts and operating under British rule.

He then surfaced, disobeying orders from his own command, to...

Without “Game of Thrones” in Emmy contention, the VFX race has become wide open, with “Stranger Things,” “Legion,” “Westworld,” “American Gods,” and “Black Mirror” stepping up with creepy characters and supernatural situations.

Highlights include the Demogorgon creature from “Stranger Things,” the exploding kitchen from “Legion,” the final reveal of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and all of her inner workings from “Westworld,” the incredible sex scene from “American Gods” with Bilquis, the Queen of Sheeba (Yetide Badaki), and the disgusting spider with a human head from the “Playtest” episode of “Black Mirror.”

Meet the Demogorgon from “Stranger Things”

The cool thing about the Demogorgon from “Stranger Things” (directed by the Duffer Brothers) is it fits so well with the ’80s low-tech vibe. As the boogeyman from the Upside Down (named from “Dungeons & Dragons”), the creature represents a wonderful hybrid of practical and CG.

Aaron Sims Creative did the design, and the...

If you ask visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug and visual effects supervisor David Stump—who also works in a related craft, as a visual effects cinematographer—visual effects in TV tend to be serviceable, at best, due to the simple economics and complex logistics of television production. But as the collaborators will tell you, American Gods is far from your average television series. Featuring more than 3,000 VFX shots put together over the course of 18 months, the…...

(“Guardians 2” spoilers follow.)

So here’s a poser: In “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” we have Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and his father, Ego (Kurt Russell), a living planet that takes on human form. Weta Digital was challenged with creating the interior look of Ego, along with the various transformations during his climactic fight with Quill.

This involved complicated mathematical patterns known as fractals (inspired by artist Hal Tenny, who served as a consultant). However, not only did Weta have difficulty controlling the fractals, but it also had to make them pliable in short order.

And then there was the biggest challenge: Weta was charged with ensuring that “Guardians” avoided an R-rating. That’s because 40% of Ego gets destroyed in the fight, and his internal organs can be seen dangling behind him. Weta offered to make him look more fractal, oozing black blood, but director James Gunn would have none of that.

Chicago – In many ways, it’s easier to draw a direct line from 1997’s “The Game” to the work that David Fincher is doing today than it would be from “bigger hits” like “Fight Club” and “Seven.” Not only does “The Game” look strikingly similar to “Social Network” and “Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” in terms of the way Fincher and his amazing d.p. Harris Savides shoot board rooms and bad behavior but the film shares themes that still interest Fincher like obsession, ego, and deception. The Criterion edition of Fincher’s film makes the argument crystal clear that is one of the most underrated thrillers of the ’90s.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Not only does “The Game” perfectly display Fincher’s obsessive level of detail in glorious HD but it features a confidence in storytelling that was not really appreciated when it came out as too many critics focused on perceived...

I have always found David Fincher's 1997 thriller The Game rather frustrating and now I've been given a chance to explore it once again as Criterion has released a brand new Blu-ray edition of the film as it celebrates its 15th anniversary. Criterion originally brought the film to laserdisc back in 1998, and has now created a brand new transfer for this Blu-ray release as well as delivered two different audio tracks, one the theatrical 5.1 surround mix and the other the near field 5.1 surround mix originally created for in '97 for the Criterion laserdisc. The audio and video are excellent, and the film certainly remains intriguing but, as I said, I find it continually frustrating. The Game finds pleasure and thrills in tormenting wealthy investment banker Nicholas Van Orton, a role perfect for Michael Douglas, playing it a bit looser than his Gordon Gekko from 1987, but no less privileged and pedestaled.

In advance of the upcoming October 11 release of Prometheus on Blu-ray and DVD, Amazon released the film on HD today for $14.99. You can order it amazon asin="B009AJDDQU" text="right here" if you just can't wait. It's also available on CinemaNow, Google Play, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu, Xbox Live and YouTube. Otherwise, go ahead and preorder the amazon asin="B005LAIHXQ" text="DVD" or amazon asin="B005LAIHY0" text="Blu-ray". Now let's see what else is arriving this week in physical media... Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures The week's top pick is clearly the Indiana Jones Blu-ray collection, which I did have the time to watch the first three films and they all look and sound great. The only complaint I actually have has to do with the supplemental material, which is all pretty good, but none of it is "new". Based on the material they have they could have...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 25, 2012

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Michael Douglas gets fed up with clowning around in The Game.

The 1997 thriller The Game is the second film by leading Hollywood filmmaker David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) to receive a special makeover by Criterion, following his 2008 drama The Strange Case of Benjamin Button.

The film focuses on the enormously wealthy and emotionally remote investment banker Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas, Traffic), who receives a strange gift from his ne’er-do-well younger brother ( Sean Penn, Fair Game) on his forty-eighth birthday: a voucher for a game that, if he agrees to play it, will change his life.

That’s the high-concept basis for story, which kicks off a trip down a rabbit hole that proves to be puzzling, terrifying, dangerous and exhilarating for Nicholas (and the viewers that join him for his game). Compared to other fincher films,...

It’s been a long time coming, but director David Fincher’s 1997 thriller The Game is finally headed to Criterion later this year. Fincher previously talked about the release in an interview with Steve in 2010, and he stated that the hold-up was probably his fault as he still needed to look at the full cut before it could be released. The wait is finally over, as Criterion announced that the disc will hit DVD and Blu-ray on September 25th of this year. Included is a new, restored digital transfer supervised by Fincher and director of photography Harris Savides, an alternate 5.1 surround audio mix, commentary by Fincher, Savides and star Michael Douglas, and much more. The Game is quite the twisted thriller, and while it’s not my favorite Fincher film it’s definitely worth checking out. Hit the jump to check out the Criterion cover (in keeping with Fincher's other Criterion discs,...

Long rumored and wished for, "The Game" is finally getting the special edition treatment the rest of David Fincher's films have, joining the director's "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" in The Criterion Collection. That's right, this September your wallet is going to get a little bit lighter when the refreshed film becomes available from the boutique label.

So, what are you gonna get for the dollars you drop on this? Besides a newly restored transfer, the meaty part of the extras is an audio commentary, previously only available on the Region 2 edition of the DVD, featuring Fincher, Harry Savides, Michael Douglas, screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris, digital animation supervisor Richard “Dr.” Baily, production designer Jeffrey Beecroft, visual effects supervisor Kevin Haug, and visual effects producer Robyn D’Arcy. Damn. There's also an hour's worth of fresh behind-the-scenes footage and film-to-storyboard comparisons for four of the film’s major set pieces,...

First off, I have to tell you that this page may load slow. We're making an awful lot of calls to the Amazon Api here, and that's bound to monkey with things. If you have no idea what that means... it's shiny. Please note also that, for the same reason, you may find, depending on traffic, that not all of the Amazon details will load properly. I apologize for that, it's just the nature of the beast, and the fact that the Api wasn't really meant for such things. If you refresh, it will probably fix.

You may have heard me mention this giveaway quite a while ago, and it's taken me a long time to figure out what sort of format to put things in, and I kept added things. Eventually it became too much to really give any kind of run down on the items, so I decided...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released its annual list of invited new members, and it’s clear they’re continuing to try to make their membership younger. On the list alongside veterans like John Hawkes and David Duchovny are a slew of twentysomethings, including Mia Wasikowska, Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Lawrence, and Rooney Mara. The Board of Governors also decided to extend an invitation to Restrepo codirector Tim Hetherington, the first time Academy membership has been bestowed posthumously. As a side note, it’s also a hoot to now say the phrase Oscar voter Russell Brand.

Beverly Hills, CA . The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 178 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2011 to the Academy.s roster of members.

.These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,. said Academy President Tom Sherak. .Their talent and creativity have entertained moviegoers around the world, and I welcome each of them to our ranks..

The Academy.s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 211 new members in 2011, but as in other recent years, several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.

In an unprecedented gesture, the list of new members includes documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed in action in Libya in April.

HollywoodNews.com: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 178 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2011 to the Academy’s roster of members.

“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “Their talent and creativity have entertained moviegoers around the world, and I welcome each of them to our ranks.”

The Academy’s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 211 new members in 2011, but as in other recent years, several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.

In an unprecedented gesture, the list of new members includes documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed in action in Libya in April.

DVD Playhouse—December 2009

By

Allen Gardner

Public Enemies (Universal) Johnny Depp portrays legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger in co- writer/director Michael Mann’s take on America’s first “Public Enemy Number One.” Like many big studio releases today, Public Enemies has it all: A-list talent before and behind the camera, but lacks a heart or soul that allows its audience to connect with it. Film plays out like a “true crime” TV show with re-enactments of famous events cast with top actors and shot by the best technicians in the business, with little, if any, character or story development to hold it together in between. A real disappointment from one of our finest filmmakers and finest actors. The lone standout: the great character actor Stephen Lang as a hard-eyed lawman who’s seen a lot, but manages to retain a tiny piece of his heart. For a better take on the same subject,...

Chicago – What took so long? Seriously, why are studios waiting so long to release some essential titles on Blu-Ray? Every time someone asks me why I think that Blu-Ray hasn’t taken off as quickly as some insiders expected, I have the same answer. “Because your favorite movie isn’t on Blu-Ray.” At least one of those “favorite movies” can be checked off the list with the release of “Fight Club” in a glorious tenth anniversary edition from Fox.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

What more is there to write about “Fight Club”? It’s almost more interesting to think about the ten years that have passed and the influence that the film has had on the ’00s and what happened to the key players since. Helena Bonham Carter was an intriguing supporting actress then and her status hasn’t really changed. Brad Pitt hadn’t even met Angelina Jolie (as far as...

We’re ten years on from Fight Club. There’s still so much to talk about, but the text has been evaluated, eviscerated and analyzed a great deal over that time. Fight Club was an obsession for me when it came out; I saw it at an early screening and it spoke to me. I got it. And it became the movie I took people to see. I ended up in the theater at least ten times with different sets of friends to enjoy this brilliant black comedy. My review of Fight Club after the jump.

The film opens with an unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) sweating and with a gun in his mouth. The gun owner is Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and a bunch of high-rise buildings are about to be destroyed. That’s the ticking clock, and the film then explains how Norton got there. The narrator is unhappy...

Blu-ray Review

Fight Club

Directed by: David Fincher

Cast: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Meat Loaf, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto

Running Time: 2 hrs 20 mins

Rating: R

Due Out: November 17, 2009

Plot: An insomniac thirty something (Norton) with no purposeful existence meets an anarchist (Pitt). Together they start a “fight club,” which evolves into an underground society that offers men more happiness than the possessions that have ruled their lives.

Who’S It For? By appearance, Fight Club is a guy’s movie, a bonanza of machoness that has dudes beating each other in order to achieve catharsis. However, the mind of Fight Club extends far beyond the action movie genre, and is presented with an aesthetic brilliance that is worth a viewing itself.

Movie:

In honor of the tenth anniversary release of the amazing Fight Club, I am adding a few things to the organization’s list of rules, as things...

We have a brand new exclusive clip from the upcoming Fight Club 10th Anniversary Blu-ray disc, which hits the shelves on November 17. Click below for our exclusive clip featuring Tyler Durden's incarnation with commentary by director David Fincher.

A lonely, isolated thirty-something young professional in an unidentified, semi-stylized city, seeks an escape from his ordinary life with the help of a devious soap salesman. They find their release from the prison of reality through underground fight clubs, where men can be what the world denies them.

Special Features:

- New A Hit In The Ear: Ren Klyce and the Sound Design of Fight Club

Welcome To Fight Club

Angel Faces Beating

The Crash

Tyler's Goodbye

- New Flogging Fight Club

- New Insomniac Mode: I Am Jack's Search Index, Commentary Log, Topic Search

- Behind the Scenes Vignettes: Production, Visual Effects, On Location

- Edward Norton Interview

- Commentary by...

Like it was for many males of my generation, Fight Club was a formative film of my youth. It was brutal, hip, mean and fun — everything that a young teenager aspires to be!

Unlike many other males of my generation, I understood it was satirical and sarcastic, and that fight clubs were indeed not cool to start up in loving tribute of the film.

However, revisiting the film brings back warm memories of one of my first ventures into innovative, stylized filmmaking, and it’s surely one of David Fincher’s best works.

To date, it’s also the only completely successful film adaptation of a Chuck Palanuik novel.

Now, the beautifully gritty film will finally be arriving on Bluray on November 23rd, 2009. From the official press release for the disc:

“Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you’re alive. If you don’t claim your humanity you will become a statistic.

The Digital Bits has revealed that 20th Century Fox will be releasing the long-anticipated David Fincher film Fight Club on Blu-ray November 17th. Starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter, this Chuck Palahniuk adaptation has become a cult classic that is worshipped by fans worldwide. This new hi-def version of the film comes packed with extras, but most were available on the original 2-disc special edition DVD that hit stores some years ago. Here's what we can expect:

Special Features:

- Four commentaries:

- Director David Fincher

- Fincher and actors Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter

- Novelist Chuck Palahniuk and screenwriter Jim Uhls

- Crew (Alex McDowell, Jeff Cronenweth, Michael Kaplan and Kevin Haug)

- Seven deleted and alternate scenes

- Featurettes:

- A Hit in the Ear: Ren Klyce and the Sound Design of Fight Club

- Welcome to Fight Club

- Angel...

The Twitter-Wood feed was heavy on media today. I've got some links below to pics from "Eclipse" director David Slade and actor Peter Facinelli, as well as a video clip from director Lloyd Kaufman of his Comic-Con roast where Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee said a few words.

Slade was one of several directors posting updates about current projects over the last 24 hours. Lee Unkrich of "Toy Story 3" tweeted in with some voice acting news and Jon Favreau was riding his keyboard to express how much he enjoys the editing room. Click on down to find all of them, as well as Ashton Kutcher's defense of recently released, re-admitted NFL star Michael Vick. It's in the Twitter-Wood feed for July 28, 2009.

@aplusk Mike Vick went to prison for his crime. He did his time. Now we got to let it go.

-Ashton Kutcher, Actor (”The Butterfly Effect,” “That ’70s...

As predicted, "Slumdog Millionaire" leads the pack of nominees for the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards. The Danny Boyle-directed film has 11 nominations total.

The BAFTA Film Awards 2009 will be held on February 8th at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. Click Read More to see the complete list of nominees:

Best film

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Best British film

Hunger

In Bruges

Mamma Mia!

Man On Wire

Slumdog Millionaire

Leading actor

Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon

Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

Sean Penn - Milk

Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Leading actress

Angelina Jolie - Changeling

Kristen Scott Thomas - I've Loved You So Long

Meryl Streep - Doubt

Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Kate Winslet - The Reader

Supporting actor

Robert Downey Jr -...

The 2009 BAFTA Award nominees have been announced and Slumdog Millionaire, along with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, leads the way with 11 nominations with The Dark Knight close behind with nine. However, at the top of the pile it is immediately noticeable that The Dark Knight did not get a Best Film nomination as all the usual suspects are there, but The Reader is added to the pack as one of its five nominations. Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) is considered a lead actor at the BAFTAs and earns a nomination in the category while he is competing Stateside for a Supporting nom. I believe he is more of a lead actor than a supporting, but Fox Searchlight obviously sees the supporting category as the easier place to get him a nomination and has pushed him in the category as a result. Other than that, the usuals are there with Brad Pitt earning a nomination,...

Quantum of Solace, the 22nd film in the James Bond franchise, will feature a complex visual effects shot captured digitally in 4K resolution, which offers four times the amount of picture information typically captured by most digital cinematography cameras.

The shot for the Marc Forster-helmed title is being lensed using eight shutter synchronized 4K Origin cameras from Dalsa, one of only two companies now shipping 4K digital cinematography cameras. Specifics are being kept under wraps, but the shot will feature Daniel Craig in his role as James Bond and Olga Kurylenko as the film's lead Bond girl, Camille.

Director of photography Roberto Schaefer and consulting visual effects cinematographer David Stump collaborated on the shot.

"The Dalsa Origin was the only uncompressed, high-resolution, low-noise camera system we could count on to do what we needed to do," visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug said.

Added Stump: "Working with uncompressed 4K gave us the ability to mine the maximum amount of detail from the scene."

Dalsa shipped the camera packages from Los Angeles to Movietech Camera Rentals at Pinewood Studios in the U.K., where both companies prepped the cameras, which recorded 4K data to eight Codex digital disk recorders.

This review was written for the theatrical release of "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium."

One of the central characters in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" longs to achieve the "sparkle" that shows she's inspired and expressing her highest potential. The film, presumably, aims for that same glow. But for all its playful touches and neat-o nostalgia for nondigital entertainment, the whimsy feels forced.

In the director's chair for the first time, Zach Helm juggles some of the same themes he brought to his script for "Stranger Than Fiction" -- the process of storytelling, fear of death and the need to live life to the fullest. As in that movie, there's less here than meets the eye, but without the former's Charlie Kaufman Lite layers of metafiction, the emptiness is often glaringly evident. Helm's slender tale doesn't quite know what to do with its four characters; what might have been pleasing simplicity instead feels thinly conceived. As family-friendly fare starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman, the fantasy drama should conjure up decent, if not magical, boxoffice.

Divided into storybook chapters, the film begins at "the beginning of the end" for Mr. Magorium, who, at age 243, is preparing to depart this earthly plane because -- well, enough is enough, and he's out of shoes. For the past 113 years he has run the titular establishment, a sort of enchanted indie FAO Schwarz. Hoffman plays the toy impresario in teased 'do and unruly eyebrows and with a wispy, silly voice. The performance isn't a flat-out miscalculation like Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka, but as oddities go, it's more distracting than compelling.

Magorium plans to bequeath his shop, a storefront/house sandwiched between skyscrapers, to its manager, Molly Mahoney (a convincingly tentative Portman). At 23, she's a onetime musical prodigy who feels stuck, unable to complete the concerto she's been trying to compose. She has a fondness for Emporium regular Eric (Zach Mills), a sweetly geeky 9-year-old who has a knack for invention and troublemaking friends. He tries out his nascent social skills on Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), the accountant Magorium has hired to put his finances in order. Being an accountant, Henry is necessarily an impassive skeptic who can't accept that magic exists. He will, of course, be convinced.

For her part, Molly can't accept that her beloved boss is leaving. Neither can the store, whose red walls begin turning gray -- decor body language for a sulk. The books and stuffed animals start acting out, too, until full-fledged magic mayhem forces Magorium to close shop temporarily.

Within the Crayola-hued profusion created by production designer Therese DePrez and costumer designer Christopher Hargadon, there are lovely fillips, and visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug brings high-spirited contributions to the low-fi fantasy. There's not a PlayStation 3 in sight but plenty of such delightful diversions as a squeak-toy gavel, a nervous Slinky, a room full of bouncing balls and a particularly expressive sock monkey.

Until the final sequence, though, the phantasmagoria is mildly charming rather than wondrous. That wouldn't be a problem if the characters had more substance. Chanting a pop-psych carpe diem mantra, the film can't find its own pulse. Helping to set a pace is the lush score by Alexandre Desplat and Aaron Zigman, but its ooh-ahh insistence isn't enough to truly entrance.

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM

Fox

Mandate Pictures and Walden Media presenta FilmColony production in association with Gang of Two

Credits:

Screenwriter-director: Zach Helm

Producers: Richard N. Gladstein, Jim Garavente

Executive producers: Joe Drake, Nathan Kahane

Director of photography: Roman Osin

Production designer: Therese DePrez

Music: Alexandre Desplat, Aaron Zigman

Co-producer: Barbara A. Hall

Costume designer: Christopher Hargadon

Visual effects designer: Kevin Tod Haug

Editors: Sabrina Plisco, Steven Weisberg

Cast:

Mr. Edward Magorium, Avid Shoe-Wearer: Dustin Hoffman

Molly Mahoney, the Composer: Natalie Portman

Henry Weston, the Mutant: Jason Bateman

Eric Applebaum, the Hat Collector: Zach Mills

Bellini, the Bookbuilder: Ted Ludzik

Mrs. Goodman, Who Wants the Store: Kiele Sanchez

Running time -- 94 minutes

MPAA rating: G...

One of the central characters in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium longs to achieve the "sparkle" that shows she's inspired and expressing her highest potential. The film, presumably, aims for that same glow. But for all its playful touches and neat-o nostalgia for nondigital entertainment, the whimsy feels forced.

In the director's chair for the first time, Zach Helm juggles some of the same themes he brought to his script for Stranger Than Fiction -- the process of storytelling, fear of death and the need to live life to the fullest. As in that movie, there's less here than meets the eye, but without the former's Charlie Kaufman Lite layers of metafiction, the emptiness is often glaringly evident. Helm's slender tale doesn't quite know what to do with its four characters; what might have been pleasing simplicity instead feels thinly conceived. As family-friendly fare starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman, the fantasy drama should conjure up decent, if not magical, boxoffice.

Divided into storybook chapters, the film begins at "the beginning of the end" for Mr. Magorium, who, at age 243, is preparing to depart this earthly plane because -- well, enough is enough, and he's out of shoes. For the past 113 years he has run the titular establishment, a sort of enchanted indie FAO Schwarz. Hoffman plays the toy impresario in teased 'do and unruly eyebrows and with a wispy, silly voice. The performance isn't a flat-out miscalculation like Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka, but as oddities go, it's more distracting than compelling.

Magorium plans to bequeath his shop, a storefront/house sandwiched between skyscrapers, to its manager, Molly Mahoney (a convincingly tentative Portman). At 23, she's a onetime musical prodigy who feels stuck, unable to complete the concerto she's been trying to compose. She has a fondness for Emporium regular Eric (Zach Mills), a sweetly geeky 9-year-old who has a knack for invention and troublemaking friends. He tries out his nascent social skills on Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), the accountant Magorium has hired to put his finances in order. Being an accountant, Henry is necessarily an impassive skeptic who can't accept that magic exists. He will, of course, be convinced.

For her part, Molly can't accept that her beloved boss is leaving. Neither can the store, whose red walls begin turning gray -- decor body language for a sulk. The books and stuffed animals start acting out, too, until full-fledged magic mayhem forces Magorium to close shop temporarily.

Within the Crayola-hued profusion created by production designer Therese DePrez and costumer designer Christopher Hargadon, there are lovely fillips, and visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug brings high-spirited contributions to the low-fi fantasy. There's not a PlayStation 3 in sight but plenty of such delightful diversions as a squeak-toy gavel, a nervous Slinky, a room full of bouncing balls and a particularly expressive sock monkey.

Until the final sequence, though, the phantasmagoria is mildly charming rather than wondrous. That wouldn't be a problem if the characters had more substance. Chanting a pop-psych carpe diem mantra, the film can't find its own pulse. Helping to set a pace is the lush score by Alexandre Desplat and Aaron Zigman, but its ooh-ahh insistence isn't enough to truly entrance.

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM

Fox

Mandate Pictures and Walden Media presenta FilmColony production in association with Gang of Two

Credits:

Screenwriter-director: Zach Helm

Producers: Richard N. Gladstein, Jim Garavente

Executive producers: Joe Drake, Nathan Kahane

Director of photography: Roman Osin

Production designer: Therese DePrez

Music: Alexandre Desplat, Aaron Zigman

Co-producer: Barbara A. Hall

Costume designer: Christopher Hargadon

Visual effects designer: Kevin Tod Haug

Editors: Sabrina Plisco, Steven Weisberg

Cast:

Mr. Edward Magorium, Avid Shoe-Wearer: Dustin Hoffman

Molly Mahoney, the Composer: Natalie Portman

Henry Weston, the Mutant: Jason Bateman

Eric Applebaum, the Hat Collector: Zach Mills

Bellini, the Bookbuilder: Ted Ludzik

Mrs. Goodman, Who Wants the Store: Kiele Sanchez

Running time -- 94 minutes

MPAA rating: G...