Rev up your engines for “Ferrari”. Adam Driver gives a confident performance as legendary racer turned car maker Enzo Ferrari… once this movie gets away from its kind of soap opera-y, dreary, interpersonal squabbles and conflicts heavy first half. It shifts into a second half with some pretty good car racing scenes from the 1957 […]
1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and 2005’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” are two of my 100 favorite films of all-time. I consider both adaptations of the classic Roald Dahl story to be brilliant. Both Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp deliver powerful versions as the fascinating, multi-dimensional, dynamic chocolate-maker extraordinaire. When I learned […]
“Finding Nemo” was the second movie I ever saw in a theater. I watched “Broadcast News” a long time ago and went to see “The Simpsons Movie” on opening night. So I’ve been familiar with Albert Brooks for a long time. But his new documentary, “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life”, has opened my eyes to […]
This is an enthralling documentary on the life and career of Sylvester Stallone. He is so open in this doc, with compelling stories and such intelligent thoughts about moviemaking, the industry and his filmography. We go through so many of the movies that he’s written, directed and starred in over the years and the thought […]
Meg Ryan last acted in a movie eight years ago. She also directed 2015’s “Ithaca”. Ryan returns to the director’s chair, and partners with David Duchovny on-screen, in the new romantic comedy, “What Happens Later”. Of course, she’s best known for starring in three of the most iconic rom-coms of all-time: “When Harry Met Sally”, […]
I’ve always had a great amount of respect for Taylor Swift. Growing up, her music was dominating the charts and the radio. She was also venturing into the movies, with a voice role in “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” and song contributions to “The Hunger Games” and “One Chance”, both earning Golden Globe nominations. Tunes like […]
“She Came to Me” is hard to describe. Looking at the poster, with a New York City backdrop behind stars Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei, you might think it’s a love triangle romantic comedy And maybe, since it is set in The Big Apple, you might predict it’s one of those rom-coms filled […]
Writer/director John Carney knows how to make music shine in his movies. His breakthrough 2007 drama “Once” featured the Oscar-winning song “Falling Slowly”. Tunes performed by Keira Knightley and Adam Levine rocked in “Begin Again”. And “Sing Street” is one of my 20 favorite films of the past 10 years. So my expectations were high […]
“The Hill” is a based-on-a-true story sports drama co-written by Angelo Pizzo, who wrote 1986’s “Hoosiers” and 1993’s “Rudy”. Not a bad resume for the genre. The A-list actor headlining “The Hill” is Dennis Quaid, who’s starred in more than a dozen sports films, including “The Rookie”, “The Express”, “Any Given Sunday” and “Blue Miracle”. […]
If you don’t count this past February’s “Marlowe” (which was much more of a slow-paced drama than an action film), it’s actually been 16-months since the last Liam Neeson thriller. So, I guess we were due. Here comes “Retribution”. The first thing writer Chris Salmanpour and director Nimrod Antal had to decide was what to […]