Christopher Guest defined the mockumentary genre with cult hits “Waiting for Guffman”, “A Mighty Wind”, “For Your Consideration”, and most notably, “Best in Show”. That film, released in 2000, is a hysterical satire on the beloved canine spectacle: the dog show. “Mascots” is Guest’s latest mockumentary. It features most of his core team of talented […]
“Deepwater Horizon” is the latest entry in the “Contemporary True-Story of a Major American News Event” genre. Ripped from the headlines, with a script adapted from a New York Times article, director Peter Berg takes us through the events of April 20, 2010, which resulted the loss of nearly a dozen lives and created the […]
Here’s the list of ingredients for every Seth Rogen adult, raunchy comedy: – 15% original, funny, clean material – 20% original, funny but inappropriate material – 25% unoriginal, unfunny, inappropriate material – and 40% filler His latest – “Sausage Party” – follows this recipe exactly – oh, and it also includes the most pornographic 5-minute […]
Woody Allen’s five films prior to “Cafe Society” included a couple of Oscar winners (“Midnight in Paris”, “Blue Jasmine”), a guilty pleasure (“Irrational Man”), a mixed bag (“Magic in the Moonlight”) and a bit of a disaster (“To Rome with Love”). This latest all-star, romantic dramedy is the first Allen movie distributed by Lionsgate and […]
Pixar’s breakthrough concept 21 years ago: What do toys do all day while their owners go to school or work? The latest feature from Illumination Entertainment, the creators of “Despicable Me”, poses the similar question: What do pets do all day while their owners are away from home? The answer is revealed early on in […]
It was the Summer of ‘99. I wasn’t even a year old when my parents took me to the Drive-Ins to see my first movie – Disney’s animated version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan . 17 summers later, families can, once again, park their cars in front of giant outdoor screens and watch The Lord […]
Six long years ago, Tim Burton took us down the rabbit hole for his live-action version of Disney’s 1951 animated adventure “Alice in Wonderland”. It was the second highest-grossing movie of the year ($1 Billion+ worldwide), though not because of the quality of the film (many critics, including myself, thought it was extremely dull). “Alice” […]
“Snow White & the Huntsman” was one of the pleasant surprises of 2012. It twisted-up a classic fairy tale with a smart script and a killer Evil Queen in Charlize Theron. She’s back, along with Chris Hemsworth, for this “Huntsman” spin-off. As Emily Blunt, who plays the Ice Queen Elsa – I mean Freya – […]
“Hardcore Henry” has a unique hook: this relentless, incredibly violent, sci-fi action extravaganza was shot almost entirely with GoPro cameras, and told completely from the first-person perspective of Henry – a half-man, half-machine. Much like “Mad Max: Fury Road”, “Hardcore Henry” relies heavily on wild, zany chaos and incredible stunts. And while I wasn’t a […]
“In the Heart of the Sea” is NOT director Ron Howard’s cinematic version of Moby-Dick with an updated title. It is, instead, the much less captivating story behind the story of one of the most cherished literary works of all-time. Moby-Dick may be required reading, but “In the Heart of the Sea” is absolutely not […]