“Oz the Great and Powerful” will inevitably (and unfairly) be judged against the 1939 classic for which it serves as a technologically modernized prequel, but a more apt comparison is the Wachowskis’ “Speed Racer,” another film built less around story and character than its unique CGI world. One’s liking of “Oz” will mostly be determined […]
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Bryan Singer’s “Jack the Giant Slayer,” an action-packed spin on the fairy tale “Jack and the Giant Beanstalk,” is the type of film that does a lot of things acceptably, but doesn’t excel in a single area. Budgeted at a whopping $195 million, it’s filled to the brim with stuff, both narrative and visual, but
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“21 and Over,” a comedy so stupid it would have to double its IQ to be considered brain-dead, is essentially a version of “The Hangover” for teens. This makes sense when one looks at the credits, as the film was written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the screenwriters of “The Hangover.” Here,
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When it was released three years ago, “The Last Exorcism” was a genuine surprise. What was advertised as a standard-issue found-footage horror movie for teens was actually a smart mockumentary about a variety of social issues, like blind adherence to organized religion and the camera’s ability to attract narcissists. As I wrote in my review,
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When a movie as painful to endure as “Identity Thief” comes along, it’s tempting, as a critic, to seek vengeance against the filmmakers by exploding with hyperbole. I would undoubtedly feel a bit better about having been cinematically tortured for two hours if I could unload an outraged “This film epitomizes everything that’s wrong with contemporary
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Bruce Willis is an actor whose effort is visibly proportional to his enthusiasm for the material. When he believes in the work, it shows; consider “Pulp Fiction,” “12 Monkeys,” “The Sixth Sense,” last year’s “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Looper,” and, of course, the first four “Die Hard” films. Now, think back to some of his lesser
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The best argument for “Escape from Planet Earth,” the latest children’s animated film to roll off Hollywood’s assembly line, is that it’s a mostly painless experience for adults. That’s really all a parent can ask for if they want to take their young kids to the movies more than the two or three times a
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While the name Nicholas Sparks and the word “masterpiece” will never be uttered in the same breath, there are two films (“The Notebook” and “A Walk to Remember”) that prove that the schmaltzy romance novelist’s paperbacks can be adapted into modestly affecting melodramas for the screen with the right talent. Well, some of his paperbacks,
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Zombies are in. Slow zombies, fast zombies, historical zombies, futuristic zombies, Nazi zombies, stripper zombies — you name an adjective, there’s probably been a zombie version of it in film, television, and/or video games. As a result, it’s starting to seem like there isn’t anywhere new for artists to go with the cannibalistic, reanimated creatures,
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“Bullet to the Head,” Walter Hill’s first film since 2002’s “Undisputed,” is a triumphant return for one of the medium’s preeminent action masters. With the exception of the “48 Hrs.” movies, Hill’s directorial efforts aren’t smash hits, but they are oft-excellent, exciting genre pictures about men tangling with morality and mortality through hyper-competent use of
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