It only takes a few great cinematic elements to turn a helter-skelter sci-fi fantasy into a cult classic. Russell Mulcahy finds that edge in directing Gregory Widen’s story “Highlander.” Part of it is Christopher Lambert’s hardened hero Connor McLeod as well as Clancy Brown’s exceptionally psychotic performance as the Kurgan, but Mulcahy commands how we […]

As expected, the box office did big business to open November with the three new wide releases earning a combined total just shy of $100 million, with the animated supervillain flick “Megamind” leading the charge with $46 M.

Since I made the comparison to “Due Date,” here’s my short review from a couple years back. There’s not a lot of explicit or physical humor in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” but such is the case with most John Hughes comedies: you get more of a natural, every-day sort of a humor in a film […]

I’d normally consider it a cop-out to label a film exactly like another and purposefully avoid direct comparison between two films, but “Due Date,”  starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis as polar-opposite travel buddies thrown together by unwelcome circumstances, bears more than just a resemblance to John Hughes’ “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.” In this […]

As the 2012 Spider-Man reboot gears up for filming early next year, the cast is beginning to round out. Although director Marc Webb went for a relatively unknown Peter Parker in Andrew Garfield, it looks like Aunt May and Uncle Ben are to be some very familiar faces. Sally Field and Martin Sheen are in […]

Welcome to November. Finally things will pick up at the movies as we gear up for holiday season. After two weeks of two or fewer wide releases, we have three spanning three genres: animated family, R-rated comedy and women-centered drama. All of them, however, should give the box office a considerable boost. There is also […]

The road trip offers no better way to physically manifest the journey of a character(s) in a film. From criminals on the run from the law to best friends making a cross-country trek in a van, travel has permeated the movies for decades. With “Due Date” coming out tomorrow pairing comedians Zach Galifianakis and Robert […]

It’s the calm before the November trailer storm, aka a slow week for trailers. So for this Trailer Wednesday after U.S. Election Day, it’s only fitting we look to Europe for two films yet to be picked up for U.S. distribution: the star-studded crime film “London Boulevard” and the Finnish fantasy/action film “Rare Exports: A […]

Unlike any film in history, “The Pink Panther” left its legacy not by its original sense of humor or iconic performance by Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, but by an animated pink panther and instantly recognizable theme music by Henry Mancini. Anyone born after 1980 knew of “The Pink Panther” at a young age, but […]

If you don’t know me well enough yet, then learn now that it’s never too early to look into future releases — and you should read my friggin’ bio. What’s coming out a year from now is infinitely more exciting than that which is close. So for me, that first glimpse of something that’s been talked […]

The “Saw” franchise is back atop the box office for the first time since 2007 aka “Saw IV.” In 2008, “High School Musical 3” didn’t so much as give “Saw V” a chance and last year, “Paranormal Activity” bum-rushed the box office and held “Saw VI’s” opening weekend to below $15 million. This weekend, the […]