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 […]

These are the 10 strongest performances by actors and actresses in 2014 that could have been deserving of Best Supporting Actor/Actress consideration if only their roles had been a little bit bigger: Carrie Coon is excellent as the emotional and honest Margo Dunne, sister to Nick Dunne (played by Ben Affleck) in “Gone Girl”. Viola […]

UPDATE #2: Sony will now release “The Interview” in 331 theaters on Christmas Day. UPDATE: Sony has cancelled the Christmas Day, theatrical open of “The Interview”. It can be argued that the Sony Pictures comedy, “The Interview”, is the most buzzed-about and controversial movie of 2014. However, while this will probably turn-out to be the […]

Here’s my annual list of the Most Fascinating People of the year: If you didn’t go to the movies a lot this year, you missed the on-screen domination of Kevin Hart. The combined grosses of “Ride Along” (co-starring Ice Cube), “About Last Night” and “Think Like a Man Too” totaled nearly $250 million domestically. And […]