Liam Neeson the gritty action hero. How unbelievable that at nearly 60 years old, an actor can redefine his career and become more bankable. Neeson has somehow re-channeled the seriousness he brought to dramatic roles into creating utterly convincing heroes in decent (at best) thrillers. 

January wraps up with some thrillers and a female-skewing action comedy. Liam Neeson once again looks to prove that he is box-office king of January/February with “The Grey.” Katherine Heigl will look to see if she’s got any box-office mojo left starring in an action rom-com based on a bestselling book series in “One for […]

Few actors have a career comparable to that of Liam Neeson’s. The Irish-born actor didn’t really hit the map until he was nearly 40, yet he’s known as a dedicated and gifted thespian with the chops for an occasional mean streak. Neeson forged his career on a reputation for playing historical figures including Oskar Schindler, […]

Terrence Malick can’t count himself among the most popular directors working today, but he can certainly count himself among the most respected. His work tends to follow suit, and “The Tree of Life” is no exception. This meditation on life, death, God and the origin of the universe can be described as nothing short of […]

My predictions were a bit rough this year, but I did correctly guess that “Hugo” and “The Artist” would lead the nominees. Both Best Picture nominees received more than 10 nominations, with “Hugo” earning 11.

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. Central Standard Time comes the big announcement cinephiles have been waiting for all year: the 84th Academy Award nominations. Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence will present along with Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak. This year the predictions will be harder than ever with the lack of […]

Things get action-packed this weekend with three diverse action films entering theaters. “Underworld: Awakening” gets the widest release but might have the smallest potential audience, albeit a devoted one. George Lucas-produced “Red Tails” gives Civil Rights history the VFX treatment as a unique alternative while Steven Soderbergh’s star-studded action thriller “Haywire” tries to make ass-kicking […]

An action triple-header comes in January this year, with a few more offerings in February. George Lucas is responsible for 1/3 of the films on this list and half of them will be presented in 3D. Highlights include a rare winter offering from an acclaimed director in Steven Soderbergh’s “Haywire,” the fourth “Underworld” film and […]

George Clooney turned out to be both the biggest winner and the biggest loser at this year’s Golden Globes Sunday. Despite a win for Best Actor in a Drama for “The Descendants” — the film that also took home Best Drama — Clooney’s own film, “The Ides of March,” was shut out completely in all […]

The mix of films getting exposure for Oscar sake and films just trying to get exposure for money sake continues this weekend. All three new releases get just around 2,500 theaters. The widest release goes to the first action/thriller in what seems like ages in “Contraband” starring Mark Wahlberg, while music comedy “Joyful Noise” and […]

We are most often drawn to two types of great performances: the believable expression of extreme emotions in powerful circumstances and the impersonation. When an actor playing a person for which we have a point of reference convinces our imaginations so completely that this is in fact what the real-life figure was like, we are […]

Winter comedy and romance revolves around Valentine’s Day, so things don’t get promising for the genre until February. The types of comedies offered in the early going this year are surprisingly diverse including a couple niche market family comedies, a couple action comedies, a Nicholas Sparks-inspired romance and an Apatow-produced comedy.

  Global pandemics make for captivating science-fiction fodder — especially when the infected turn into raging zombies — but let’s say it was a tad more realistic. Let’s say that H1N1 had been as bad as we were prepared for and people were dying left and right. “Contagion” imagines that scenario through the extensive research […]

The winter months are the slowest time of year for family films, which beats me. “Gnomeo & Juliet” was the first big animated/family film of 2011 and it finished 2011 with the second-highest domestic gross of any movie that came out in January or February. The offerings aren’t all that strong for 2012, but don’t […]

Winter is a well-known time of year for studio dumps, for action films that wouldn’t make anything almost any other time of year, for Liam Neeson revenge trillers and phoned-in Nicolas Cage performances. With a lack of dramatic offerings and horror films, I’ve combined them together with thrillers to give you nine films that will […]