“The Penguin” was in my neighborhood yesterday. Good thing Detectives Harvey Bullock and Jim Gordon were around as well. The trio of actors who play these iconic characters on the hit TV show “Gotham” – Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue and Robin Lord Taylor – were in town to be part of the 55th Annual Center […]

The 21st Annual SAG Awards are Sunday. The show prides itself as being the most accurate indicator of who will take home Oscars (though I think the Critics Choice Awards are not far behind). It would be too easy for me to predict that Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons, and Patricia Arquette will win […]

As a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association, I was, once again, in Hollywood for The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. Now in its 20th year, the show was better than ever, thanks to a new host (Michael Strahan) a new, supportive network (A&E), a new venue (the historic Hollywood Palladium) and even more of […]

For the first time in Academy history, the nominees in all 24 categories were announced bright and early at 5:30am Pacific Time (8:30 on the East Coast). Directors J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”) and Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”) began the two-part ceremony with some ugly snubs: “The LEGO Movie” is up for Best Original Song with “Everything […]

And now – the movies to look forward to (and avoid) over the second half of 2015: JULY 1 – “Magic Mike XXL”, “Terminator: Genisys” (Dictionary addition?) 10 – “Minions”, “Gallows” 17 – “Ant-Man”, “Trainwreck” (the review probably writes itself) 24 – “Pan”, “Pixels”, “Poltergeist” (Scary, Scarier, and Scariest) 31 – “Grimsby”, “Point Break”, “Self/Less” […]

Here are the movies to look forward to (and avoid) over the first half of the new year: JANUARY 9 – “Taken 3” (a third dose of those “special skills”), “Inherent Vice” (Wide), “Selma” (Wide) 16 – “American Sniper” (Wide), “Blackhat” (hacking movie NOT from Sony), “Paddington”, “The Wedding Ringer”, “Still Alice” (Limited) 23 – […]

The fact that “The Monuments Men”, “Need for Speed”, “Obvious Child”, “The Giver”, and “The Maze Runner” couldn’t even make my Honorable Mentions list shows that there were a lot of bad films released in 2014. So many to choose from, but these were the Worst movies of the Worst: 1. “EARTH TO ECHO” This […]

My 10 Best Films of 2014 include several Best Actor contenders, an animated blockbuster, an underrated action gem, a powerhouse music drama, and an inspirational look at a “Two Thumbs Up” life at the movies. 1. “BIRDMAN” Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu masterfully directs using, essentially, a handful of continuous shoits. A daring story about a […]

There was a surprisingly large number of cameo and uncredited appearances in 2014 movies. This list is a compilation of my favorites. WARNING – if you haven’t seen some of these films yet, I’m sorry for spoiling some surprises. And if you have other suggestions that I should add to the list, please let me […]

Some rather well-known characters are celebrating the Holiday Season with special ads promoting their upcoming movies: The “Despicable Me” Minions sing and form their own Christmas Tree in this delightful promo for AMC Theaters and next Summer’s “Minions”. The stars of “Hotel Transylvania 2” – Dracula, Mavis and Jonathan, attempt to decorate their own tree […]