2008’s Oscar-winning documentary “Man on Wire” beautifully showcased the incredible French artist Philippe Petit, who, in 1974, defined cultural American history by walking on a wire hung between the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City. The story itself is remarkable, and as the Hollywood version of Petit’s feat, “The Walk”, once again […]
We’ve seen a Disney animated classic, a Cathy Rigby musical, an NBC live TV musical and a Johnny Depp drama that all involve the story of Peter Pan. What else can possibly be done with this character we know too well? “Pan” dares to answer that by going the prequel route with the tale of […]
Matt Damon plays an astronaut stuck on Mars in director Ridley Scott’s “The Martian”. But unlike another recent space saga – 2013’s Oscar-winning “Gravity” – “The Martian” doesn’t have enough dramatic pull to last its entire 2 hours and 20 minutes. This “Martian” is not named Marvin, but rather Mark. On the 18th day of […]
Ten years ago, Anne Hathaway played the personal assistant to high-strung fashion magazine mogul Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in “The Devil Wears Prada”. Now, a decade later, Hathaway is the passionate, stressed-out, bike-riding-at-the-office boss of her own successful online fashion company and 72-year-old Robert De Niro is “The Intern” – though he quickly becomes much […]
Sony Pictures Animation welcomes you back to “Hotel Transylvania” with a sequel to their 2012 all-star “monster” comedy. Unfortunately, you may not want to check-in, as “HT2” suffers from a scattered script and uneven pacing (aka the Adam Sandler Syndrome). Sandler earned high marks for his voice performance of Dracula in the original “Hotel Transylvania”, […]
“Mississippi Grind” is a solid and engaging drama about the extreme highs and lows of the world of gambling. This low-budget indie more effectively portrays this culture (just how quickly you can make money – and how destructive it can be when you lose it) than both Mark Wahlberg’s recent remake of “The Gambler” and […]
Johnny Depp has given a lot of great performances in his career…just not lately. With his portrayal of ruthless gangster Jimmy “Whitey” Bulger in director Scott Cooper’s “Black Mass” , Depp is generating the most positive buzz since he played Sweeney Todd on screen back in 2007. Often it’s the Depp performance that either makes […]
“The Visit” is the latest effort from “The Sixth Sense” director M. Night Shyamalan. His last several movies, including “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth” were both critical and box office flops. “The Visit” is being advertised as a traditional modern horror movie…with some touches of comedy. And it’s actually a pretty good film – […]
“A Walk in the Woods” is about two older gentlemen who decide to hike the Appalachian Trail. It certainly couldn’t have been a walk in the park for 79-year-old Robert Redford and 75-year-old Nick Nolte to make this film. And, unfortunately, it’s a bit of a struggle to watch as well. This is a true […]
“We Are Your Friends” star Zac Efron has called his latest film the “Saturday Night Fever” of this generation. But instead of a white jumpsuit and disco, Efron sports headphones and blares techno music as a DJ looking to make it big. Efron’s Cole Carter is part of a four friend posse. They live in […]