Remember “Yes Man”? The 2008 Peyton Reed directed comedy, starring Jim Carrey, in his last great comedic leading role (in my opinion), as Carl — a man who obstinately says “No” to everything until he met a self-help guru who tells him to switch his “No” to “Yes.” This effectively simple word leads to amazing…
The Von Trapp family singing their way across the Alps from Austria to Switzerland in “The Sound of Music” is an iconic image in cinema history. While it has its devoted fans, “The Sound of Music” also attracts criticism for its sugar-coating of one of the darkest chapters in human history. A more somber tale…
There isn’t a solitary way to absorb and dissect the various idiosyncrasies and potentials that exist within Netflix’s most expensive feature film, Bright. Director David Ayer has teamed up with screenwriter Max Landis to conjure up a world where “Lord of the Rings” wants to be a gritty police remake of “Harry Potter.” A novel…
Matthew McConaughey (“Interstellar”) stars in Gold, a dreary rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches-to-rags tale directed by Stephen Gaghan (“Syriana”) that, while the Academy Award-winning actor (for “Dallas Buyers Club”) gives a passionate, above average performance (along with a perky Bryce Dallas Howard, “Pete’s Dragon”) in, the narrative of a 1980s mining company striking it rich is often muddled and…
Imagine if “Rear Window” were in motion, the fragmented but persistent yearning to see given (literal) added dynamism. What we glimpse through windows is always partial, but if viewed from a moving train the glimpse is even more fleeting. Then replace James Stewart in a wheelchair with Emily Blunt addled by alcohol and you have…
Following the well-laid plans of just about every pugilistic biopic ever made (with the exception of “Raging Bull” and “The Fighter”), director Jonathan Jakubowicz with Hands of Stone, plods along (just like his subject’s boxing style) in this familiar telling of the rise of a famous boxer, in this case, Roberto Durán (Edgar Ramírez, “The…
Forget the Gods — a cool concept soured by poor writing is enough to make this movie critic angry! Such was the case with 2010’s “Clash of the Titans,” a remake of the 1981 film of the same name. Yet, while critically-panned (deservedly so), the fantasy based on Greek mythology still managed to gross $493…
