Well, the title of this action-thriller, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, warns you to “never go back,” but when the first movie bankrolls more than $100 million, that adage seems to go right out the proverbial window. Part of the fun (although some would say “ridiculousness”) of films like “Jack Reacher” — and the James…
Anyone who has read my reviews with any sense of regularity will know that when confronted with a remake or a reboot (which seems to be the norm and not the exception in Hollywood today), I always return to the source film for guidance. These projects usually fall into two categories, a) an improvement upon…
The third part of the “Star Trek” series reboot, Star Trek Beyond, does not reach the heights of other film franchises such as “Harry Potter,” “The Dark Knight” or “The Hunger Games,” but it is certainly better than the second installment, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” so thank goodness for small victories . . . Directed…
I’ll be the first to say the 2012 Tom Cruise actioner, “Jack Reacher” was a pleasant surprise. So much so that I wouldn’t have minded a sequel. Well, Paramount Pictures has delivered that sequel with Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. In the first trailer (provided by Paramount Pictures), Reacher’s (Tom Cruise reprising) tough guy bravado…
In the summer of 2007, I sat at the drive-in theater, waiting excitedly for Michael Bay’s “Transformers” to begin (it was my childhood on screen! Peter Cullen’s voice!!), and I was blown away by a trailer that no one saw coming. Choppy home-movie footage showed us a New York party that descended into chaos when…
Nostalgia and movie sequelitis are the two main ingredients that invite back the majority of films from yesteryear looking to make a big screen impact yet again. This, of course, applies to both cinematic gems and duds alike. Nowadays, the urge to tap into celebrated or soured fare from yesterday has proven to be a…
Filmed in stop-motion animation, Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman’s (“Synecdoche, New York”) Anomalisa is a look at loneliness and its psychological effects. Filled with existential despair, it is also funny, surreal, and thought-provoking, a film that can touch you in ways you never thought possible. Nominated for Best Animated film at the 2016 Oscars and…
