“Bully” made headlines when it was first released last year because of its subject matter, and then because of the “R” rating given the documentary by the MPAA. Unfortunately the controversies overshadowed the movie itself, which is fascinating, heartbreaking and very important. Hopefully, on DVD, everyone who didn’t see it in the theater will watch […]
The “Harry Potter” movie series has come to a close and the “Twilight” film finale is this November. So inevitably Hollywood needed a new blockbuster franchise based on a popular book series to latch on to. Enter “The Hunger Games” – part one of a three-book series aimed at a similar audience. This first film […]
One of the TV commercials that was used when “John Carter” was released in theaters back in February claimed that before there was “Star Wars” and “Avatar” there was John Carter. And that’s very true. The character was the creation of famed writer Edgar Rice Burroughs back in 1912. But the ad campaign doesn’t go […]
Since 2000 three Dr. Seuss books have made their way to the big screen: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, “The Cat in the Hat”, and “Horton Hears a Who!”. When you think of other classic Seuss books “The Lorax” doesn’t immediately come to mind. So it’s a bit surprising that this story was chosen to […]
This is the third year that I be able to see the “Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films”. While there are several good shorts (including a few that aren’t even in the running for the Oscar), there isn’t one this year that’s outstanding. OSCAR NOMINEES: “Dimanche/Sunday” – A hand-drawn short from Canada about a boy’s average […]
Japan’s Studio Ghibli has had a great deal of success bringing their anime films to America, thanks in large part to Disney, which distributes the films in the U.S. Fans and critics alike have loved Ghibli movies, beginning with their first – 1986’s “Castle in the Sky”. Stand-outs from the studio include “My Neighbor Totoro” […]
2008’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” was a fun family adventure. It was also the first live-action film to be shot entirely in the new digital 3D format. The Third Dimension has come a long way in the three and a half years since “Journey 1”, as we see in “Journey 2: The […]
“Big Miracle” is not inspired by the true story of the U.S. hockey team beating Russia in the 1980 Winter Olympics. That was 2004’s “Miracle”. In this movie the Americans and Russians actually work together, to try to save three whales. And, yes, it’s also based on an actual event. John Krasinski (from TV’s “The […]
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” deals with a very difficult subject: the attacks of 9/11. But this film is much more than that. It’s also a story about journeys and taking risks, dealing with grief and moving forward. 14 year-old Thomas Horn was chosen to play young Oskar Schell, the main character of the story, […]
From the title you might think “The Iron Lady” is the story of the wife of “Iron Man”. And while Meryl Streep could probably pull-off that role too, here she stars as Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister. Right from the first time Streep is on screen it’s hard to recognize her because SHE […]