“Bridesmaids” and “The Heat” director Paul Feig has returned for a third go-around with the Academy Award nominated star of those blockbuster comedies – Melissa McCarthy. “Spy” is a slick, sophisticated, very solid action comedy. McCarthy is CIA analyst Susan Cooper. For years, Cooper has been the voice inside the earpiece of suave secret agent […]
This Wednesday night, after 33 years on Late Night TV, David Letterman will say “so long” from the Ed Sullivan Theater. He will deliver one last monologue and give one final Top 10 list. So I thought I would make one of my own, on why Letterman was a pioneer in television: 10. Letterman started […]
In the opening scene of this modern update of the “Annie” story, a brainiac girl is doing a class presentation. She’s white, with red hair, and her name is Annie. When she finishes, the teacher asks the other Annie in the class (our young heroine, played by “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Oscar nominee Quvenzhane […]
“A Most Violent Year” is Oscar-nominated writer/director J.C. Chandor’s follow-up to last year’s Robert Redford “I’m alone in the middle of the ocean and I’m barely going to talk” drama “All Is Lost”. With “A Most Violent Year”, Chandor has paired-up Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”) and Jessica Chastain for an intriguing crime drama. The […]
Not long after DreamWorks Animation released its over-the-top, all-star comedy “Madagascar” in 2005, the studio was already thinking about having the film’s breakout characters, the slick and suave Penguins, headline their own movie. Now, nearly 10 years later (and following two more “Madagascar” films and a “Penguins” TV series on Nickelodeon), the Penguins are finally […]
The opening scenes of “Gone Girl” are filled with so much rapid-fire dialogue and whip-fast editing that I thought Aaron Sorkin had re-teamed with director David Fincher. But then I remembered that author Gillian Flynn, who wrote the hit 2012 novel, adapted her own work into this screenplay. Set in the summer of ’12, “Gone […]
The Fall TV Season is here, and that means a new crop of shows set to vie for big ratings. ABC felt confident enough to release pilot episodes of two new programs, the comedy “Selfie” and the drama “Forever”, online and On Demand weeks before their respective premiere nights. My thoughts on the inaugural episode […]
Once again, Labor Day Weekend is a bare one at the movies, with just two new releases, neither of which will light the box office. They are Relativity Media’s Pierce Brosnan action film “The November Man” and Universal’s horror/thriller “As Above, So Below”. Because of this, other studios are trying to take advantage and attract […]
“Obvious Child” is an indie romantic comedy first showcased at this year’s South by Southwest and Sundance Film Festivals. Jenny Slate, who spent a season (’09-’10) on “Saturday Night Live”, stars in this adaptation of a short film she and director Gillian Robespierre made back in 2009. The plot of “Obvious Child” is very straightforward. […]
“Winter’s Tale” is the feature film directorial debut of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who penned the 2001 Best Picture winner “A Beautiful Mind”. The stars of that film: Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, join Colin Farrell in this romantic fantasy, adapted from a 30-year-old book. It’s no wonder that every frame of this film […]