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 have never claimed to be a screenwriter (nor would I even try to), but it seems to me that if The Watch had just been about a group of goofy, inept, over-the-top neighborhood watchmen, then it could have been a much tighter, coherent and interesting endeavor. Under the eye of director Akiva Schaffer (“Hot…
I went into Ted with much trepidation. Not so much because it starred a cursing, drug abusing teddy bear, but because it emanated from the mind of Seth McFarlane. You see, I don’t like to be pandered to and McFarlane has become a shill for the Democratic Party, using his once hilarious animated program, “Family…
Back-to-back duds from Pixar? What’s next — the Apocalypse? The writing was on the wall, however, when the opening short, “La Luna,” (about two men and a little boy shoveling little stars on the moon) — so long one of my favorite ingredients of this studio — comes across as overly artsy and not at…
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel, well, okay, I guess . . . After viewing Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, which has elements of “On the Beach” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” it’s difficult to put my finger on just how I…
The key to appreciating any Wes Anderson film (memorable efforts as “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”), is to have the ability to either pick up on his clipped and funny dialogue (usually voiced by actors in a totally serious deadpan monotone), or somehow connect with his goofy situations and quirky characters that slip between incredibly believable…
So many times, the third film of a franchise can either make or break the series. For example, the third of the original “Superman” movies (with Richard Pryor as the villain) set the series reeling (and “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” destroyed it). The same can be said for the “Shrek,” “Ice Age,” “Spider-Man”…
Director Ridley Scott returns to his “Alien” roots with Prometheus, a lavish prequel, well done in its visuals and aesthetics, yet somewhat soulless as a whole. And while the plot brings the story of rogue — almost invincible — entities wiping out various interstellar crews full circle, one wonders what the point of the entire…
