“Popstar : Never Stop Never Stopping” comes from Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island team. They were a breakout hit on “Saturday Night Live”, and now they’ve written, directed, produced and star in their first feature – a satirical spoof on the contemporary music culture. And while there are some spot-on jabs at all kinds […]
Since the end of the original “X-Men” trilogy, this franchise has produced passable, but far from X-traordinary results in two “Wolverine” efforts and two origin chapters involving younger versions of Professor X, Magneto and Mystique. “Apocalypse”, No. 9 in the series, finishes the prequel trilogy with just about the same X-ecution. Set in 1983, 10 […]
Garry Marshall gathered practically everyone in Hollywood together, back in 2010, to celebrate “Valentine’s Day” with him. In 2011, he rounded-up a bunch of celebs again, this time for a big screen “New Year’s Eve” in the Big Apple. But because those box office results weren’t nearly as strong, his New Year’s resolution should’ve been […]
Tom Hanks rarely makes indies. Instead, he usually headlines compelling biopics, gripping action/adventures and animated blockbusters. So the low-budget, German-produced drama “A Hologram for the King”, based on a 2012 novel by Dave Eggers, is definitely a change of pace for one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. But even THE Tom Hanks […]
Melissa McCarthy has proven she can deliver plenty of laughs, both on TV and the big screen. But a pattern is starting to emerge when it comes to her movie projects: With McCarthy’s most successful films (“Bridesmaids”, “St. Vincent”, “Spy”), she and husband Ben Falcone were NOT the screenwriters, and Falcone wasn’t behind the camera […]
Recent biopics that dissected the lives of popular musicians and groups, including James Brown, Frankie Valli, Brian Wilson and N.W.A., all had some bold and powerful statements to make. The main problem with “I Saw the Light”, which chronicles the brief but amazing career of Hank Williams, is that it fails to give the country […]
“Midnight Special” comes from “Mud” writer/director Jeff Nichols, who was clearly inspired by the sci-fi movies of his childhood when it came to crafting this script. And for the first hour or so, Nichols really makes you work to try to piece everything together. Normally that’s a good sign of things to come. Instead of […]
I look forward to checking-out The Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films every year. Normally, within the group of five, there are at least one or two standouts. However, that’s not the case this year. Instead, we have a lineup that is universally weak in story and largely unimpressive. Here are the Nominees: “Bear Story” (Chile, […]
“Legend” is the true story of twin brothers Reggie and Ronald Kray, gangsters who ruled London in the 1950s and 60s. Tom Hardy, who’s established himself as one of the actors of the decade with memorable performances in “Locke”, “Warrior”, “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Mad Max: Fury Road”, plays both brothers – in this […]
Less than an hour into Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur”, I began thinking about the studio’s 15 other animated movies (never a good thing). Not all of them are outstanding (“WALL-E” being the most overrated), but given the choice, I would watch any of them again in favor of a second viewing of “The Good Dinosaur”, […]