A drawn-out reminder of “the grass is always greener” syndrome.

mother! is a two-hour allegory with a deeper meaning that we couldn’t care less about.

Inconsistencies and ridiculous situations make mother! more heartless than nurturing.

An astronaut stranded on Mars tries to survive its hostile environment in the spellbinding sci-fi thriller The Martian. Botanist/scientist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is living out an incredible dream. He and his fellow shipmates are astronauts conducting a mission on the surface of Mars. An unexpected calamity forces the entire crew to rush back to […]

An adolescent viking and his pet dragon encounter a disturbing clan that threatens the peace in How to Train Your Dragon 2. 2010’s animated film How to Train Your Dragon was one of my five best for the year. It introduced us to the story of young Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), the awkward but inventive son […]

A lonely introvert finds comfort in the “arms” of his new, highly-advanced cell phone operating system in Her. Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is demoralized by the breakup of his marriage to his first love, Catherine (Rooney Mara). It doesn’t help matters that his job as a creative letter writer requires him to be fully in […]

While traveling for business I managed to catch the new animated sensation, Despicable Me. I saw it last week and just never got around to writing it up which, pretty much, foretells how that’s going to go. Despicable Me is another in a growing list of major animated films in 2010. This one focuses on an aging […]

A couple desperate for a carefree night on the town get far more than they bargained for in Date Night. It seemed inevitable that Steve Carrell and Tina Fey would end up together in a fairly straight-forward rom-com.  The powerhouse comedy duo play typical suburbanite parents caught up in the monotony of everyday life. They love one another, but both […]

A young viking befriends an injured dragon to the dismay of most of his village in How to Train Your Dragon. Animated films are often a challenge for many adults — especially those without children. Some are clearly meant for a younger audience, while others offer a much wider appeal. When I saw the previews for this […]