Less than two months after the release of “Sully”, Tom Hanks is already back on the big screen. He reprises his role as Professor Robert Langdon in “Inferno”, the third installment in director Ron Howard’s “Da Vinci Code” franchise. That film came-out a decade ago, and prequel “Angels & Demons” hit theaters in ‘09. Normally, […]
The beauty of “Lion” is its very simple, yet extremely powerful story. It’s based on a true one (and the less you know about it going in, the better). The way screenwriter Luke Davies and first-time feature film director Garth Davis (“Top of the Lake”) have adapted “Lion” from the page (the 2013 memoir, A Long […]
Natalie Portman doesn’t just play Jacqueline Kennedy in the biopic “Jackie”, she embodies her. The film is centered on the actions of the former First Lady on the days immediately following the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963 in Dallas. With such a specific focus, I had similar concerns […]
Unlike most of his films, Tyler Perry’s latest, “Boo! A Madea Halloween”, wasn’t based on one of his stage plays. The concept actually came from a tiny gag in Chris Rock’s 2014 comedy “Top Five”. Instead of going to the movie Rock’s character had directed, everyone in a NYC multiplex was seeing a (then fictitious) […]
“The Accountant” is one of the most unique films I’ve seen this year. In describing the “genre-bending thriller”, director Gavin O’Connor (“Warrior”) told Entertainment Weekly, “It’s such an odd movie, man.” One of the integral lines of dialogue featured in the trailer and the film is when a supporting character says “Different scares people.” But […]
On Sunday night, August 30, 2015, Kevin Hart performed in front of 53,000 people at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, becoming the first comedian to ever play and sell out an NFL stadium. And that night, Universal Pictures filmed the show for Hart’s third big screen concert movie. I was there, on the field, in about […]
Christopher Guest defined the mockumentary genre with cult hits “Waiting for Guffman”, “A Mighty Wind”, “For Your Consideration”, and most notably, “Best in Show”. That film, released in 2000, is a hysterical satire on the beloved canine spectacle: the dog show. “Mascots” is Guest’s latest mockumentary. It features most of his core team of talented […]
Director Jonathan Demme is best-known for narrative dramas, such as “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia”. But he’s also made a fair share of music-related movies over the years, from his breakthrough 1984 concert film on the band The Talking Heads, “Stop Making Sense”, to a documentary on Kenny Chesney, three on Neil Young, […]
“The Birth of a Nation” enters theaters with a great deal of baggage. The historical drama was screened at Sundance in January to rave reviews and purchased by Fox Searchlight for a record-breaking $17.5 million. The studio hoped to have another Best Picture winner on their hands, just three years after “12 Years a Slave” […]
“The Girl on the Train” is not a follow-up to 2014’s “Gone Girl”, as the titles might lead you to believe. And the comparisons don’t end there: both films are based on popular novels. Both stories are disappearance/possible murder mysteries featuring a female at the center of the action (with both actresses giving showcase performances). […]