Remember a few years ago (okay, 2006) when magician movies were the big thing? Imagine the approach to the technique of magic from films like The Prestige paired with the pace and action of a heist movie. Now You See Me attempts to dazzle audiences . . .
There has been a ton of press, speculation, and anticipation leading up to the release of Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. That kind of attention is only befitting a story about excess, secrecy, and speculation. . . .
To begin my review of Iron Man 3, I should probably confess that Iron Man is my favorite superhero. The nerd in me appreciates Tony Stark’s genius and “smarter-than-thou” attitude. The girl in me appreciates Robert Downey Jr. This . . .
I have a soft-spot for baseball movies. The crack of the bat, the sound of the ball hitting leather, green grass and legendary summer afternoons—there’s something nostalgic and really beautiful about a good baseball movie. 42, the new film . . .
If 2012 was a banner year for Hollywood, so far 2013 has set out to counter that success. Most movies I’ve seen since January have been pretty mediocre at best, and The Host continues that trend. The new movie from Stephanie Meyer, creator of . . .
Every now and then I see a movie that takes a pretty simple story and executes it in such a way that the impact is greater than any special effects could accomplish. As someone generally more pleased by character development than an intense plot, these . . .
Oz the Great and Powerful, the new prequel to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, had me imagining what that film would have looked like if it had been made with the rich colors and special effects of today’s film industry. Oz the Great and Powerful, . . .
I have to admit that there was something brilliant about releasing A Good Day to Die Hard on Valentine’s Day. Up against the latest Nicholas Sparks movie, Die Hard offered an ironic alternative as well as a new installment in an iconic franchise. . . .
Side Effects, the new film from director Steven Soderbergh promises a cocktail of romance, thrills, and deception as it puts a literal twist on the psychological thriller and presents a story in which everyone’s motives are unclear. In the film, . . .
I’m not sure if it’s far enough from a contentious election to find a story about a crooked politician in a heated election really palatable. Although, are we ever far enough from a contentious election? Nonetheless, Broken City attempts . . .
Before it even hit theaters nationwide, Zero Dark Thirty faced both criticism from political voices such as Senator John McCain and Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress (among others). Though it’s rare to watch . . .
Pretend you’re in charge of setting the schedule for your studio’s film releases. It’s a few weeks before Christmas and the weekend before The Hobbit comes out. Meanwhile, Thanksgiving blockbusters are still likely to dominate the . . .
The Life of Pi is one of my favorite books. It pretty much has it all—adventure; struggle; reflection on the relationship between man and nature, man and God, and man and himself. Plus, a tiger on a lifeboat. For years people said it was unfilmable, . . .
A popular trend in children’s movie is to mix nostalgia or kitche with the aesthetic or the plot so that the film is appealing to both children and their parents, celebrating childhood memories while making new ones. Toy Story is a prime example. . . .
When I was a kid, I watched Adventures in Babysitting innumerable times. If I flipped through the channels and it was on TV, I was hooked. Fun Size, the new comedy from Nickelodeon Movies takes a basic babysitting hijinks plot and mixes it with Halloween . . .
Call me a nerd, but I get a little over-excited for period pieces. I also have an appreciation for a good spy thirller. That said, any movie that combines the two will probably be a hit with me. Still, Argo, the latest film from Ben Affleck surpassed . . .
On a Thursday afternoon, I found myself sitting alone in a small theater heckling. Embarrassingly, it’s not that unusual for me to talk back to a movie, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so annoyed that I held my head in my hands, . . .
Prohibition Era crime movies are a Hollywood classic, known for Tommy guns, femme fatales, and dirty cops that make the real criminals the sympathetic heroes of the show. Lawless, the new bootlegging crime drama with an all-star cast, draws on many . . .
Whoever decided the release date for The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a marketing genius. The feel-good family film opened the week of or before the first day of school and takes place in a rural factory town whose major product is classic yellow pencils. . . .
I’m a big fan of stupid comedies or of having a laugh at the expense of a major flop, but every now and then I see a movie so bad and so lazily made that I can’t even laugh despite my better judgment. This summer, that movie is The Watch. . . .
When I mentioned last time that I was tired of superhero movies, I hadn’t account for what has been touted as the summer’s biggest movie, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, the final installment of his Batman trilogy. The . . .
I didn’t have any intention of seeing The Amazing Spider-Man. To be perfectly honest, I was tired of superheroes and wanted to see the family drama People Like Us starring Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks, but the theater in Florida where I was . . .
For the last year, journalists, academics, and mothers have been speculating about Pixar’s Brave, the first film from the studio to feature a female lead. When images of this heroine emerged showing cascades of wild red curls and a bow and arrow, . . .
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus is one of the most anticipated films of the summer, partly due to Scott’s reputation as a director and partly due to our apparent love affair with CGI. As I think I’ve mentioned before, as a kid I really . . .