I have been a movie fan for most of my life and a film critic since 1986 (my first published review was for "Platoon"). Since that time I have written for several news and entertainment publications in California, Utah and Idaho. Big fan of the Academy Awards - but wish it would go back to the five-minute dinner it was in May, 1929. A former member of the San Diego Film Critics Society and current co-host of "The Movie Guys," each Sunday afternoon on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego with Kevin Finnerty.
I am often chastised for expecting children’s film to be more than childish, but I think there are enough precedents to show that films which often appeal to younger crowds can also be pleasant for their parents (“Inside Out,” “Minions” and “Shaun the Sheep” come to mind in 2015 alone). That is certainly not my…
To be quite honest, the trailers for the newest Bill Murray vehicle, Rock the Kasbah, did not leave me with a very positive vibe, but as a professional, I never (well, ALMOST never) let a preview color my perception of the whole output, the proof being in the pudding, so to speak. However, after viewing…
If there was ever a case of “too little, too late,” it would be Goosebumps, released by Sony Pictures Entertainment under its Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation labels. And, not unlike “The Simpsons Movie” in 2007, this picture should have come out at least 15 years earlier. “Carpe diem” or “strike when the iron…
It’s nice to see a film version of an historical incident that that this author had no idea about. As a student of history, I’ve always prided myself on knowing as much as I could on as many subjects in this category as possible; and, like “Argo” (which also featured a classified backdrop) I found…
I have to be honest, I might just have the world’s worst case of Acrophobia (for laymen, a fear of heights). This phobia could not have manifested itself any more acutely than during the newest release, The Walk, directed by Robert Zemeckis (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” the “Back To the Future” franchise and Academy Award…
The local theater where I went to view the latest Peter Pan adventure (I found myself the ONLY one in attendance, by the way), Pan, inadvertently began showing the film “Black Mass.” I went to the manager to alert them of the error, however, two hours later, I wished I hadn’t opened my big mouth….
It isn’t often that the landscape of a motion picture becomes as integral as the acting, writing or direction, but in the newest Ridley Scott (“Prometheus”) outer space adventure, The Martian, the planet’s crimson hues, frozen nights and horrifying sand/dust storms bring the story of an explorer stranded there with little help of survival to…
