Past Stories
Two for the Road
Fast and Furious 6 and The Hangover Part III offer viewers differing bangs for their bucks
Sequels always present filmmakers with an odd dilemma: If the storylines are too close to the original films, critics and audiences will...
Darkness Lights up Summer
Star Trek: Into Darkness offers thinking points to go along with thrills
Four years ago, Hollywood mastermind J. J. Abrams took the reins of the Star Trek franchise and brought it back to life as the director and producer of&he...
Not so Great
Latest take on Gatsby could make viewers wonder how it ever became a classic
For generations, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby has been enthralling readers with its tale of the mega-rich in the Roaring Twenties an...
Three’s the Charm
Iron Man 3 may be the best in the series
Everyone loves a comeback, and perhaps no Hollywood star has exemplified that in recent times like Robert Downey Jr. and his star turn as Iron Man. But when its first…
Putting the “Art” in “Art House”
Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder is less accessible than his last film
Terrence Malick has often been considered a genius, but never a prolific filmmaker. After his 1978 film Days of Heaven, he took two decades off before retu...
Remember When . . .
Trance and Oblivion offer action-packed fun and jaw-dropping plot twists
It’s rare these days to find a film that commands a viewer’s total attention. What’s even rarer is when two such films open on the same weekend, as ...
A Man for the Times
Hollywood looks at the life of Pasadena hero Jackie Robinson in 42
Many rightly credit The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, activist and defiant bus rider Rosa Parks and other well-know...
Far Too Evil
Ultra-violent reboot of The Evil Dead wastes Sam Raimi’s talents
As the director of Oz and the original Spider-Man trilogy, Sam Raimi has become as successful as any mainstream filmmaker. That’s a far cry from the start...
Beyond Boundaries
Indie filmmakers Derek Cianfrance and Harmony Korine blast past prior limits in The Place Beyond the Pines and Spring Breakers
It’s rare to see a filmmaker grow so much in a two-year stretch between the release of a film and&...
Worth the Admission
Tina Fey stretches opposite Paul Rudd in ethical dramedy
After spending six years as the creator, producer, writer and star of the instant-classic sitcom 30 Rock, Tina Fey could be forgiven if she wanted to take it easy and mak...
The Magic’s Back
Carell and ace supporting cast find comedy magic in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
It’s been a terrible year for movies, with the only film I truly enjoyed, The Identity Thief, taking in $100 million at the box office. Week ...
snoOZe
Great and Powerful Oz can’t match the magic of the 1939 classic
There are some films that are just too classic to be messed with by creating unnecessary sequels and prequels. The Wizard of Oz is right at the top…
Killer Entertainment
Director Bryan Singer creates a new kind of superhero with Jack the Giant Slayer
Even as 2012 proved a watershed year in movie quality, with six $100-million-grossing blockbusters competing for the honor of Best Picture, it als...
Oscar Showdown
This year’s Academy Awards should provide loads of excitement with plenty of close races
Each year, the Academy Awards ceremony showcases the top films in the world while offering TV viewers a must-see evening of kitschy pop...
Not So Hard
Latest Die Hard film goes limp
It’s been a quarter-century since Bruce Willis helped revolutionize the modern action movie genre in the first Die Hard film. Playing a wisecracking yet relatable Everyman cop named John McClane...
Stealing the Show
Force of nature teams up with Jason Bateman to create comedy classic Identity Thief
Two years ago, Melissa McCarthy hit the big screen in Bridesmaids, unleashing a performance that was so boldly original that she became an inst...
Swept Away
Family strength trumps Mother Nature’s worst in J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible
Imagine you’re on vacation with your family in what seems like an utterly idyllic place. You’ve been fortunate enough to afford a trip to the ...
Love Hurts
Amour filmmaker Michael Haneke tackles the prickly issue of euthanasia
From the moment we are born, we begin the process of dying. It’s a sad fact we try to tune out for the first six decades or so of our…
Will He Be Back?
Could Audiences Turn Against the Governator, Willis and Stallone after Newtown?
He played a robot assassin, killed off alien predators and became the world’s first pregnant man during more than 20 years of superstardom. Off s...
Ends and Means
Zero Dark Thirty raises questions about American torture tactics in the search for Osama bin Laden
There’s always a risk involved when a film attempts to depict historical events. While Lincoln has proven to be a formidable h...
Best of Times
The 10 Most Outstanding Films of 2012
The past year offered the best crop of movies I’ve seen in more than a decade. As usual, I’m offering my personal 10 favorites of the year out of the more than 150…
Over-Reach
Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher hits too close to reality
As the old saying goes, timing is everything. That could apply to good luck or bad, but in the case of Jack Reacher, Tom Cruise’s new attempt at an action film…
Wild Wild Western
Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx reinvent the Western in Django Unchained
In the 20 years since his stunning debut as the writer/director of the crime film Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino has brought a wildly inventive spin t...
No Guilt Required
There’s plenty to enjoy in the new road film starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen
There are two movies coming out this week that involve an epic journey, undertaken by gnomish creatures on a quest for enlightenment. One i...
The Raw Deal
Bill Murray abandons everything that made him special as FDR in Hyde Park on Hudson
It’s always sad when beloved movie stars die, even when fans hear of their passing long after their acting career ended. But a far stranger&h...
Good Evening, Indeed
Hitchcock offers a funny and informative night at the movies with the Master of Suspense
Virtually every famous public figure has two lives: the one the public thinks it knows, and the real one carried out behind closed doors. ...
Cinematic Treasure
David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook finds comic beauty in life’s darkest moments
Love in the movies is rarely shown in the way most of us deal with it in life, with all the messy complications and daily struggles tha...
Overrated Epic, Underrated Gem
Lincoln is a bloated misfire, while A Late Quartet is a quiet masterpiece
Epic movies may get the biggest hype, but that doesn’t always make them the best films. At the same time, sometimes the films with the least hype…
