Just like how rules were meant to be broken, prisons were meant to be broken out of, and movies have literally and figuratively given us much escapist entertainment over the years. Prison movies are especially fun when we’re not just talking iron bars. A great number of filmmakers over the years have imagined prisons of [...]

One of the first ever posts on Movie Muse was my Top 10 Superhero films, a celebration of a genre near and dear to my heart, or at least one that I love to dissect more than most considering I’m a product of the superheroes on TV/film era. Yet as many triumphs as we’ve witnessed [...]

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, [...]

Robots are still the future, right? Or at least androids? Hopefully there’s still a high demand for artificial intelligence like all the great sci-fi authors predicted, otherwise who is going to do stuff for us in the future like fight our battles and take care of our children? Last weekend’s “Real Steel” envisioned a time when boxers [...]

Baseball might have lost a ton of ground to football in popularity, but it’s still America’s pastime. And frankly, the tide can change quickly in football (only three NFL teams haven’t made the playoffs in the last 8 years), but in baseball, a chance to win the World Series doesn’t come around all that often. [...]

Many a movie character has been made in the mold of the small-time crook. Ask the Coen brothers, for example; they’ve made a career on films about ordinary people trying to do brazen (and usually illegal) things. As morally outstanding movie-goers (perhaps I should speak just for myself), we identify with these characters because we [...]

I continue celebrating Movie Muse’s second birthday by listing the 25 most beautiful brown-haired ladies on the big (and little) screen. All this stems from my unashamed love of a myriad of brunette actresses and one of my first ever posts:  “Top 10 Brunette Beauties.” If you missed No. 25-13 you should click here before moving [...]

Movie Muse turned two years old this week! Last year I shared my thoughts on a year of movie blogging, but this year I’m going to have a bit more fun. My first order of business when the site debuted was to put together a few of the ever-popular “Top 10″ lists on things I [...]

What’s with all the dang penguins? We’ve known that for decades that Hollywood has a habit of supplying vocal chords or curiously anthropomorphic abilities to all living creatures in the animal kingdom. From animated features to “Dr. Doolittle,” we’ve consistently fantasized about what would happen if our furry, scaly or feathered friends could talk, sing or interact [...]

Death by explosion is a terrific (albeit PG-13) way to kill off a significant character in any action movie or thriller. A loud boom with pillars of fire and usually the right touch of slow motion in post-production makes a climactic death scene a fitting one and serves as a very visceral catharsis in any [...]

One of the most influential last names in movie comedy that gets the least recognition is “Farrelly.” Maybe its because Bobby and Peter’s films have gotten progressively less popular with fans and critics in the 15-plus years they’ve been making them. Maybe it’s because their motto is probably something along the lines of “goofiness and [...]

If you’re a woman over the age of 30, he drives you wild. If you’re a woman under the age of 30, he still drives you wild — but in an awkward sexy dad sort of way. If you’re a man, you’ve thought about sneaking up on him with a tupperware container in hopes of [...]

They’re known as the movies you have to see twice, or sometimes more affectionately as the movies after which you say “I don’t know what the $%*# just I just saw.” For now, I’ll call them mind-benders: films that are so enigmatic and intricately woven that wow you at the end, even if you have [...]

Two of the most popular movie and NBC television comedians Steve Carell (The Office) and Tina Fey (30 Rock) are joining forces for the first time in Friday’s Date Night, from Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum). Of all possible date comedy duos, none could be more promising. This is not Jennifer Anniston and Gerard [...]

For some reason, one of my favorite plot devices of all time is time travel, or really any film that messes with the framework of time.  Even a film that tells the story in non-traditional chronological order such as Memento or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind get extra props for time manipulation. With Hot [...]