Boxing, despite the sport’s decline in popularity since the ’80s, has managed to make for some of the best films. Starting with “Rocky” and then films such as “Raging Bull,” boxing has is one of those things that seems to best represent life’s journey and its struggles. There might not be a stronger visual metaphor […]

With the Oscars now less than 30 days away, I’m dedicating a lot of my archive reviews to some of the big winners. Here’s a film I watched recently, 1981 (1980 calendar year) Best Picture winner Ordinary People. The way “Ordinary People” depicts the family is tough to swallow. Is the Jarrett family really ordinary? […]

In January, we went through a lot of junk. Nothing could bring down Avatar, now the highest-grossing movie in US history. I saw two decent films, The Book of Eli and Youth in Revolt, but I’d hardly want to be forced to advocate for them. So we move on to part two of the winter […]

There’s no denying that “Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire” is a tough film. The harrowing story of an overweight illiterate 16-year-old girl pregnant by her father for the second time and living with her abusive mother is not the fare most of us go to the theaters for. But sometimes we need […]

Seeing what kind of messed-up half-thuggish hair and facial hair John Travolta is wearing in his next film is like following public appearances of Lady Gaga to see what bizarre outfit she’s concocted next, only Gaga can manage to pull it off at times. But seriously, middle-aged Vinny Barbarino has tried and done everything to […]

Here’s my theory on how Paramount and Hasbro teamed up to make “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” With the help of the film’s creative team, Hasbro designed an entire Toys R Us aisle’s worth of G.I. Joe action figures and accessories, everything from subs to jets to tunneling vehicles to Joes in accelerator suits […]

As expected, Avatar became the highest-grossing film in US box-office history today, passing Titanic‘s record of approximately $600 million given the estimates from Tuesday’s receipts. This is not a surprise today, but maybe even a month ago, certainly two months ago, this news would’ve made our jaws drop.

And they’re up! I’ve got your list of Oscar nominees this morning along with how my predictions checked out. The big news is that the Academy absolutely loves The Hurt Locker, giving it as many nominations as Avatar. They share noms in seven of those categories, so this should really be quite a race to the […]

Well, I was right about Avatar staying No. 1, which it did while barely dropping off yet again, but I thought Edge of Darkness would give it a serious run for its money, which it did not with only $17 million. Looks like Mel Gibson failed his test. Avatar has now become the first film […]

Tomorrow, Punxatawney Phil will try and check out his shadow, but even if we have six more weeks of winter, we’ll at least have the list of Oscar nominations. The announcement will come Tuesday morning at 7:00 CST/5:00 am PST and will be announced by the lovely Anne Hathaway. Ah, the smell of Oscar season. […]

You won’t find a more visually immaculate film than “A Single Man.” Gucci frontman Tom Ford’s film debut is something out of an inch-thick fashion magazine. His eye for beauty and sensuality might be unparalleled in Hollywood with just this one entry. Applied to the story of a man torn apart inside with the loss […]