Besides minor adjustments with its story and certain supporting characters, Neil Burger’s (“Limitless”) The Upside is a fairly faithful remake of the popular 2011 French film “The Intouchables.” Both movies are inspired by the real-life friendship of French aristocrat Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and his Algerian caretaker Abdel Sellou and each highlight their dynamics of…
In the past, he’s been Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, and an animated fox. Now he gets to be Batman. Robin Hood, that legendary outlaw of yore, has recently returned to the big screen for his routine re-imagining in Robin Hood and this time he has more in common with the caped crusader than the Lincoln…
Choosing a third remake of A Star Is Born, a classic rags-to-riches movie that has a history of attracting legendary talent from Fredric March to Judy Garland, as your directorial debut is a risky move, but it’s one that Bradley Cooper pulls off quite well. The actor’s rise from TV sidekick to cool comic relief…
The late 80s Garry Marshall directed romantic comedy “Overboard” starring real-life couple Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell was a breezy, amiable vehicle suitable for the celebrity tandem’s collaborative cinematic exposure. The Hawn-Russell cheeky pet project was not necessarily a rom-com that waded in the deep end of watery hysterics, but it still proved to be…
Interestingly Death Wish, the millennial-era remake of the gritty mid 70’s crime thriller of the same name, notoriously arrives in theaters at an increasingly awkward moment in a divisive national climate (particularly in the aftermath of the most recent high school shooting) where the political stakes regarding gun violence in America are at an all-time…
There is a moment early in Kenneth Branagh’s intricately constructed adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic whodunnit when Hercule Poirot (Branagh) stands on the deck of a ship as it leaves Istanbul. Poirot is captured center frame: The deck, the railing, the adjacent cabin and the sea itself are balanced perfectly around him. The shot is…
It can be a tricky thing to review horror films. The red-headed stepchild of the movie business, horror is an incredibly subjective genre for fans. Despite repeatedly being let down by film after film, we return to the theater with each new offering, hoping for a gem — a new classic. Remakes are especially daunting…
