“The Boxtrolls” is the latest stop-motion animation film distributed by Focus Features and brought to life by Laika, the makers of “Coraline” and “ParaNorman”. Both of those movies were nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, and I’ll be very surprised if “The Boxtrolls” isn’t on the ballot this year. What, on the surface, appears […]
“The Hundred-Foot Journey” is a smart, sweet and surprisingly delectable end-of-summer romantic dramedy. Executive Producers Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey clearly understood the vision of director Lasse Hallstrom (whose impressive credits include “The Cider House Rules”, “Chocolat” and “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”) and screenwriter Steven Knight (who’s having a fantastic year with indie gem […]
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 […]
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 […]
DreamWorks Animation’s 2010 surprise hit “How to Train Your Dragon” was one of the Best Animated films of the year (second only to “Toy Story 3”) and is still one of the top-grossing and most impressive films for the studio. Four years later, DWA soars again with “Dragon 2”, a more dramatic, action-packed and visually […]
“Heaven is for Real” is based on the best-selling book of a boy’s near-death, life-changing experience. Director Randall Wallace follows-up his 2010 horse-racing drama, “Secretariat”, with another inspiring true story. Greg Kinnear is excellent as Todd Burpo, a loving husband to wife Sonja (Kelly Reilly from “Flight”) and father to daughter Cassie and fun-loving four-year-old […]
It’s time to raise the curtain and light the lights again, as the beloved Muppets have returned to the big screen in a new adventure. Frankly, I was surprised Disney announced a sequel almost immediately after the release of the 2011 reboot (simply titled “The Muppets”) since it didn’t cross the $100 million mark at […]
The original Jack Ryan movies, beginning with 1990’s “The Hunt for Red October”, were both box office and critical successes, and are still considered to be some of the best spy/action films of the past 25 years. Now “Star Trek”‘s Chris Pine begins steering the ship of another reboot franchise with “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit”, […]
When I first heard the idea for “Grudge Match”, I immediately thought it was a winner: Sylvester Stallone (best known as Philadelphia fighter Rocky Balboa) and Robert De Niro (who won an Oscar for playing real-life boxer Jake La Motta in Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull”) play longtime rivals who meet in the ring one final […]
“Philomena” is based on the true story of one woman’s quest to find the son who was taken from her when she was a young, unwed mother. Dame Judi Dench, best known for her Oscar winning eight minutes in “Shakespeare in Love” and as 007’s assistant, M, in the last seven Bond movies, shines in […]