I was afraid that the success of the Twilight films would lead to a rash of adaptations of other young adult supernatural series to the big screen. Hopefully, Beautiful Creatures will put an end to any plans beyond what’s already in production. This ambitious film with great production values falls flat for a number of […]
The latest Nicholas Sparks novel to be filmed is Safe Haven. It’s another romance surrounded by elements that threaten an otherwise obvious love affair. I must admit that I’m a huge fan of The Notebook which has gotten me no shortage of curious looks from various friends but I still contend it’s a great love […]
I wish that I had a winning formula for anything — perhaps video game design or writing — that would produce money at a regular rate with different versions of that same formula. Nicholas Sparks seems to have a knack for writing romantic dramas that get turned into movies starring pretty actors kissing in the rain. Some […]
Writer/director Don Coscarelli has a good pedigree and cult following with previous favorites Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep. Those films found a perfect mixture of camp and horror. In an attempt to adapt David Wong’s novel of the same name, Coscarelli has lost his way, his touch or both. Dave (Chase Williamson) meets with skeptical journalist […]
On May 5th, 1993, three eight-year-old boys — Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers — were reported missing and later found hog-tied, naked and submerged in a local stream. Almost at once, the authorities knew this had all the telltale marks of a satanic ritual killing, and they arrested the most likely suspects — […]
If I ever complain about my job or living conditions, just remind me how difficult they could be with the word “Taiga” and watch me shut up. The best documentaries take you someplace new or introduce a subject you never knew before and entertain you in the process. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga […]
World War II seems to be an endless supply of perspectives and stories that surface in books, movies and various other forms of historical records. The best of these introduce something unexpected and perhaps unsettling to the way you look at a group, location or ideology. Lore uses all of the familiar tropes of fairy […]
A teenage girl in Nazi Germany is left to look after her younger siblings in the closing months of World War II in Lore. There are few subject matters that have been the focus of more films than the Holocaust. Countless films have covered the period from virtually every conceivable perspective to the point of […]
It’s nice to see familiar characters return to the screen to do what they do best as long as they’re not stunted. Bruce Willis has been in some notable films in 2012, including the disappointing Looper and the amazing Moonrise Kingdom, but it’s a pleasure for him to return to the Die Hard series in […]
I really despise movie trailers that present one type of movie when the actual movie is something completely different. Even worse, comedies tend to show you the best jokes in the trailer so that, when you see those parts in the actual movie, they’re no longer funny. This trick is typical of the spoof series like […]
You may have been in a doctor’s office and seen well-dressed men and women with large briefcases or bags and prominent name tags. No, they’re not Mormons. These are drug reps for major pharmaceutical companies. They bring gifts (drug samples or pens) and have pizza delivered to the doctors and their staff in order to […]
The first comedy of the new year is Identity Thief starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. Bateman plays Sandy Bigelow Patterson, an every day kind of family guy from Denver who suddenly finds his world turned upside-down when “Diane” (McCarthy) steals his identity and starts exhausting his accounts and his sanity. It’s a recipe for a […]