Movie Review: ‘The Calling’ Starring Susan Sarandon, Topher Grace & Donald Sutherland
It’s been far too long since Susan Sarandon has headlined a movie.
Movie Review: ‘The Giver’
The Giver, based on a wildly popular young adult novel by Lois Lowry, is a huge disappointment. The film has a nice cast – Jeff Bridges as the Giver, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgard, Katie Holmes and Brenton Thwaites. But as good as they are, they can’t salvage this mess. The
Movie Review: ‘Into the Storm’
I have two pieces of advice for you: the first is that if you’re ever near a deadly tornado, do not under any circumstance, run into the storm. The second is to run away from the movie Into the Storm because it’s terrible. Into the Storm is another pointless found
Movie Review: Joe Swanberg’s ‘Happy Christmas’ Starring Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey & Lena Dunham
When I saw Joe Swanberg‘s Drinking Buddies at SXSW, I was in heaven. The all-improvised film about employees working at a small brewery was teriffic and I loved every second of it. You can read my review here. Even upon repeated viewings, the film, starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna
Movie Review: ‘4 Minute Mile’ Starring Richard Jenkins, Kelly Blatz & Analeigh Tipton
There’s nothing really new or original in 4 Minute Mile but thanks to its winning cast, I doubt anyone will really mind. It’s the story of a talented high school athlete, Drew (Kelly Blatz), who finds himself kicked off the track team. He’s got a dirtball drug dealer of a
Movie Review: Cameron Diaz & Jason Segel’s ‘Sex Tape’
If you’re interested in watching Sex Tape, the new film starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel, I have a suggestion: stay home and watch a real sex tape or make one of your own. You’ll have a much better time and you’ll save yourself a couple of bucks. It actually
Movie Review: ‘Mutual Friends’
With friends like these… Mutual Friends, the concept, started off with an interesting idea. Have a handful of writers craft separate stories involving the same characters and then craft those stories into a screenplay. One problem with that idea though is that each set of stories has a different voice.
Movie Review: ‘Hellion’ Starring Aaron Paul
Aaron Paul stars as a single father trying to deal with the loss of his wife in writer/director Kat Chandler’s new film, Hellion. Paul’s Hollis, dealing with his demons, isn’t around much so that leaves 13-year-old Jacob (Josh Wiggins in his film debut) and younger brother Wes (another newcomer Deke
Review: ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ Starring Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones & Boyd Gaines
I’ve never really understood why productions from Broadway and beyond never filmed their shows to screen to a larger audience after they finished their run. Sure, we had some over the years, like Company and Rent, but these have been few and far between. National Theatre Live has been screening
Review: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’
20th Century FOX should just give the keys to their X-Kingdom to Bryan Singer. Let him do whatever he wants with the series because clearly he’s the only one who can put mutants on film with any success. With the first X-Men and the terrific X2, he showed what he
Review: Philip Seymour Hoffman in John Slattery’s ‘God’s Pocket’
If there is some kind of magic pill I could take that would make me enjoy a mediocre movie, then I would have gladly taken it for God’s Pocket. I went into the film really hoping to like John Slattery’s writing and directing debut. Slattery is a wonderful actor and
Review: ‘Godzilla’
Dear Godzilla, I went to see your movie the other night. I’ve loved you since I was a kid and I was super excited to see you on the big screen again but I have to ask… where were you? The movie is called Godzilla… but you were barely in
Review: Steve Coogan in ‘Alan Partridge’
I’ve never seen Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge. I’ve wanted to check them out but you know how it goes… it’s on the list of things you want to watch but you just never get around to watching. But, after watching Coogan in the wonderful film, The Trip, and Philomena
Review: Scarlett Johansson in Jonathan Glazer’s, ‘Under The Skin’
There are times when I’ve watched a movie, the house lights come up and I think to myself, “What the hell did I just see?” Under the Skin was one of those movies. Directed by Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast), the film is based on the novel by Michael Faber and
Review: ‘A Birder’s Guide to Everything’ Starring Kodi Smit McPhee & Ben Kingsley
A movie about four 15-year old high school students searching for an extinct duck just became one of my (so far) favorite movies of the year. A Birder’s Guide to Everything is a delightfully charming (and sometimes sad) story of David Portnoy (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a young bird watcher. I mean
Review: Director Roger Michell’s ‘Le Week-End’ Starring Jim Broadbent
Roger Michell was the director of one of my favorite movies, Notting Hill. And before you can say it yourself, I’ll say it for you: Yes, I’m a big girl. Notting Hill is one of the best romantic comedies ever and because of that, I’ll watch anything Michell directs. His
SXSW Review: ‘A Night In Old Mexico’ Starring Robert Duvall
If Robert Duvall is wearing a cowboy hat in a film, I’ll be the first one in line for the screening. Actually, if he’s in any film, I’ll be there. But when he’s got the hat on, man, I just eat it up because no one plays a cantankerous old
SXSW Review: Jon Favreau’s ‘Chef’
As much as I like most of the big-budget films that Jon Favreau has directed, if he just stuck to smaller, personal films like Chef, you would never hear a complaint from me. Chef, written, directed and starring Favreau, is a little gem of a movie. Though, to be honest,
SXSW Review: ‘Wild Canaries’
Writer/director Lawrence Michael Levine’s film, Wild Canaries, is a mess.
Review: ‘Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me’
This is really Elaine Stritch‘s world and we’re all living in it. I can honestly say this after watching the excellent and brutally honest documentary about her life, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. The film looks back on her amazing life and career as follows her as she is beginning to