I love movies, tech, politics, games and more. I've been writing professionally since 1985 and, thankfully, have worked with some of the best editors in the business. I'm also a proud member of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle and the Broadcast Film Critics Association (Critics Choice Awards).
A young, troubled father, struggling to finally put his life back together, is tragically killed by transit police in the true story of Fruitvale Station. Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) was returning from a night out with friends, enjoying San Francisco’s New Year’s Eve festivities for 2009. A fight broke out on the train that […]
Kristen Wiig stars as a woman whose entire life comes crashing down, forcing her to move back home and confront the genesis of her problems in Girl Most Likely. Imogene (Wiig) used to be on the path to sure success as a playwright. Now, years later, she’s living in the aftermath of having never actually […]
A noted paranormal investigation couple come to the rescue of a family whose new home transforms from dream to nightmare in the new horror film The Conjuring. In 1971, the Perron family scraped together everything they had to buy their first home in a beautifully wooded area of Rhode Island. This family of seven, including five daughters, […]
The team from the surprise action/comedy hit of 2010 is back in action with the all-new sequel RED 2. Bruce Willis and John Malkovich are back, starring as retired CIA black-ops agents Frank Moses and Marvin Boggs respecitvely. Frank’s settled down into a rather mundane existence as the live-in boyfriend of Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) when Marvin […]
Humanity fights back against an onslaught of monstrous creatures from the deep in the new action extravaganza Pacific Rim. Of all the talent in Hollywood, no one’s work intrigues me more than Guillermo del Toro. I certainly haven’t liked everything he’s done, but much of his work I find downright fascinating. His latest film, Pacific Rim, […]
A struggling 14 year-old finds solace and support at a local water park in the coming-of-age film The Way, Way Back. In the 1979 film Meatballs, Bill Murray‘s character (a camp counselor) says to a new arrival, “You must be the short depressed kid we ordered.” That film was another coming-of-age story involving another disconnected […]
Gru and family return for a sequel to the 2010 smash-hit original in Despicable Me 2. In the new installment, Gru has given up his evildoing aspirations in order to focus on being the best father he can be for his three girls — Margo, Edith and Agnes. Unfortunately, his evil past means he’s also the best […]
William Shakespeare‘s classic comedic play is reimagined by Joss Whedon in the latest version of Much Ado About Nothing. This famous tale has been the inspiration for countless romantic comedies over the years while the main play itself was adapted for the screen in 1993 by Kenneth Branagh. This time around, Joss Whedon of Buffy […]
Sandra Bullock as an FBI agent and Melissa McCarthy as a Boston cop begrudgingly work together on a case that pushes them to turn up The Heat. Bullock plays FBI agent Sarah Ashburn — an agent with a personality as subtle as a brick and an ego to match. When a big promotion looms, she’s told […]
Channing Tatum as a would-be Secret Service agent and Jamie Foxx as the President in need of protection star in the new action film White House Down. This action thriller starts off a bit story-heavy by introducing us to John Cale (Tatum), a U.S. Capitol cop trying to make the leap over to the Secret […]
Brad Pitt looks to save his family and, reluctantly, the rest of humanity from a new pathogen that turns the infected into bloodthirsty zombies in World War Z. Speaking of reluctance, I’ve never been a big fan of zombie films. I’ve generally found them to be as mindless as the zombies themselves. There have been […]
A popular classic rock song’s lyrics rhetorically ask, “War. What is it good for?” It answers that by stating, “Absolutely nothing.” Well, one thing it seems to help is the documentary film industry. That’s certainly the case with Dirty Wars — a film from The Nation reporter Jeremy Scahill. Scahill is no stranger to war or […]