“Get On Up” is director Tate Taylor’s follow-up to the 2011 sleeper hit “The Help”, which got a Best Picture Oscar nomination and Best Supporting Actress win for Octavia Spencer. Both she and Viola Davis re-team with Taylor for the James Brown biopic, but this time in very small roles, as two of the women […]
2014 is the year that Marvel movies have gone where the studio has never gone before. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, the highest-grossing film of ’14 to date, perfectly mixed the action and political thriller genres. And now with “Guardians of the Galaxy”, one of Marvel’s best ever, director James Gunn has created an outer […]
What if you were kidnapped by a group of suited men with guns and had a powerful and valuable drug surgically implanted in your stomach? And what if this led to you becoming the most intelligent person in the history of the world? I’m not sure mankind would be ready for it, something Oscar-winner Morgan […]
Dwayne Johnson is one of the hardest working men in Hollywood. His post-wrestling, big screen career has included notable action hits, family films, and even a few comedies. Prior to filming “Hercules”, the artist formerly known as “The Rock” told director Brett Ratner (the “Rush Hour” trilogy) that he was “born to play” the title […]
Four-time Golden Globe nominee Cameron Diaz is on quite a roll. “Sex Tape” is her seventh movie in a row that’s either a critical or financial bust, or both. In Jason Segel’s case, fresh-off the finale of the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”, this is a low point in his big screen career […]
Last August, Disney’s non-Pixar animated “Cars” spin-off “Planes”, originally set for a Direct-to-DVD release, opened in theaters in the middle of a crowded animation summer. A $200 million worldwide box office total was good enough for The Mouse House to push full steam ahead on a sequel. Now, less than a year later, in likely […]
2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” rebooted the classic franchise with a new origin story. While not as action-packed as expected (more of a sci-fi drama until the final 30 minutes), it was still one of the most successful movies of the summer. Now, three years later, “Dawn of the Planet of the […]
Along with dozens of others, I was inspired to become a film critic by Roger Ebert. One day, back in 2005, I saw an episode of “Ebert and Roeper” and was amazed that someone could actually give their straight-forward and honest opinions about movies on a TV show. Almost instantly, I knew that was what […]
Director Richard Linklater’s films, including “The School of Rock”, “Bernie”, “A Scanner Darkly” and the “Before” trilogy, have satisfied audiences with their attention to authentic human situations and emotional truths. His latest, “Boyhood”, is an ambitious project shot over 12 years (with a budget of $2.4 million, or just $200,000/year), with the same narrative and […]
Watching “Earth to Echo” is easily one of the most miserable experiences I’ve had at a movie theater in some time. Obvious comparisons have been made for months, since the original, overly-dramatic trailer was released, to 1982’s all-time classic “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial”. After seeing “Echo” (or as I call it, “E.T.E.”), mentioning this in […]