The answer to the obvious question hovering around Jon Favreau’s latest action blockbuster is yes, “Cowboys & Aliens” is as ridiculous as the title sounds. Yet blame doesn’t quite belong on Favreau’s shoulders or that of star Daniel Craig or the rest of the cast; rather, the failure of this alien-infested Western results from the […]

“What happens in Cedar Rapids stays in Cedar Rapids,” says Joan, a “one of the guys” kinda woman played by Anne Heche who views her yearly trip to an insurance conference in Cedar Rapids as momentary liberation from her life’s irrevocable commitments. For those of us who’ve tried to spend as little time in Iowa […]

How are you holding up? It’s been a long summer of high-buzz projects so far and July will not go out quietly at all this weekend. “Cowboys & Aliens” provides the mainstream blockbuster action this weekend while kiddies get “The Smurfs” and adults have the option of falling in “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

If I had the ability to time travel (and who’s to say I don’t, because I’d never tell you if I did) and felt inclined to show a movie to the citizens of the ’20s or ’30s that would fully capture for them life in the 21st Century because I wouldn’t be able to take them there […]

As far as superheroes go, they don’t get much campier than the “Star-Spangled Man.” A super soldier dressed in red, white and blue who bashes in Nazi skulls with his all-American shield? Undoubtedly, Captain America served a very specific purpose when he debuted in 1940, but 70 years later, Marvel Studio has found a way […]

Talk about a tough act to follow. With the record-setting weekend “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” had last week, I wouldn’t want to be either new film this week, “Captain America: The First Avenger” or “Friends With Benefits.” But it doesn’t necessarily mean both these films are worth passing on. Not at […]

Hugh Jackman showed up unexpectedly (or expectedly, depending on how you look at it) near Comic-Con this morning to help promote his upcoming film “Real Steel,” which (most unexpectedly) doesn’t have a panel. In a Q&A, he revealed some details about what he called “Wolverine 2,” including when he’ll shoot the film and who his […]

No way that “The Dark Knight Rises” gets to have all the fun. Sony Pictures has just released its own teaser trailer for next summer’s “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and they’ve even one-upped Christopher Nolan’s film by keeping things distinctly less cryptic. Get ready to revisit Spidey’s origins, friends.

If humans can only access 20 percent of their brains normally and 100 percent while on NZT, the “Limitless” drug of choice, then I would say screenwriter Leslie Dixon and director Neil Burger probably access somewhere around 70 percent of their creative power with regards to bringing Alan Glynn’s novel to the big screen. All […]

$168 million in its first weekend. $92.1 million in its first day. $43.5 million in its first public screenings. These are incredible numbers, but allow me to cast a small memory charm on you for a moment. The success of “Harry Potter” goes well, well beyond the current and long-term success of “Harry Potter and the […]

Millions of people have already seen it as it played before “Harry Potter” this weekend, but now you can watch the teaser for “The Dark Knight Rises” over and over and over and over again and pause at those quick flashes of Tom Hardy as Bane.

After “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” made the most of any film in the fantasy series, there was no question “Part 2” would fly higher. Turns out that moviegoers decided to give the Boy Who Lived a record-breaking curtain call to the tune of an estimated $168 million in its first three […]

Eight films in just about 10 years and no rusty wands in the bunch — or however you wish to phrase it. The success of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series theatrically has been unprecedented in both box-office receipts and critical success. Perhaps Warner Bros. and producer David Heyman are to thank for their careful supervision, […]

It all ends. No headline for the movie world this weekend could be bigger than that for the eighth and final “Harry Potter” film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.” Expect it to have one of the three biggest if not the biggest opening for a movie in American history. I love you, “Winnie […]

There are the grand emotional courtroom dramas that immerse you in the ethical dilemmas that stem from from the case itself, filled with quotable speeches from venerable actors; then there’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” starring Matthew McConaughey. Based on the Michael Connelly novel, the film plays more like a crime thriller set in the legal realm, […]