Anyone could market or even direct “The Conversation” as a mystery, but Francis Ford Coppola manages to reveal some of our human tendencies in his film just as well as he holds us in suspense. Voyeurism, like it or not, is a human characteristic. Modern day reality television simultaneously proves both this point alone and […]

“The Promotion” is not a great or memorable comedy, but it’s a brave one. Brave in that it doesn’t give you what you expect from a comedy about Sean William Scott and John C. Reilly vying for the same promotion in a supermarket chain. The expectation is physical humor, gross-out shenanigans and general mayhem. What […]

The Holocaust has been revisited in film so many times that I imagine the first thing German-born film actors ask themselves upon meeting is “which film(s) were you a Nazi in?” The crimes of the Nazi Party and the German soldiers carrying out its mission to revive Germany through the mass killing of Jews and […]

If you’re Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, how do you go about finding your next “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise? Well, you start by keeping the whole cast in long hair and eyeliner only you relocate them to the desert. “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” is a familiar swashbuckling adventure only transplanted to the […]

Everything about “Whip It” screams sports movie clichés. Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) lives in small-town Texas and lies to her parents, namely her mother who has stuck her in beauty pageants her whole life, and sneaks off at night to Austin where she’s becoming a roller derby phenom. She even meets a cute boy during […]

“The Thin Red Line” is a war story told with images. There is a difference between that and a movie. It is a bold piece of film-making, especially for a war film, yet it makes all the same statements only without the stereotypes. If the creators of those dumb spoofs made “War Movie,” it would […]

Brave are the filmmakers who go out and try to capture the plight of the middle class, aka relationship drama. James L. Brooks’ “Broadcast News” is a romance twisted up with a career that’s all about constantly proving yourself and rising to the top. In reality, it’s just co-worker romance with the heated pressure of […]

Films about the movie industry are always interesting, but “Sullivan’s Travels” is in its own special niche in the show-biz comedy genre. The premise is about a successful musical comedy director who wants to make a serious picture about human suffering. The film opens with a dedication to the memory of clowns, buffoons — anyone […]

It’s possible that any sequel ten years in the making would be bound to fall flat. “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” might have been destined to do so from the beginning. The cult following if not worshipping of the original beckoned creator Troy Duffy to bring us the McManus brothers once again, even […]

Filmmaker James Cameron’s constant yen to explore the unknown has taken us to the future, the depths of space and now the deepest caverns of the ocean. “The Abyss” is an underwater survival story with a science-fiction bend. It is a trip into the depths of what we know exists on this planet but can’t […]

25 years after directed the greatest courtroom drama ever made in “12 Angry Men,” acclaimed director Sidney Lumet returns with “The Verdict.” Starring Paul Newman in a performance best described as straight from the core, the film flips the idea of justice on its head and reveals the enduring human spirit that lies within the […]

I don’t have anything against talking animals. I love Disney movies like the rest of them. I’ll take talking toys, bugs, bears, penguins, fish, you name it — but an elite force of special unit guinea pigs in a live action setting is not something that screams fun for the whole family. No doubt that […]

Superhero movie follow-ups have been a tough business lately. “Iron Man 2” marks Marvel’s first sequel since “Spider-Man 3” left millions disappointed in 2007. So to quell any lingering fears, “Iron Man 2” is not a letdown. It’s far from it. To think director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. would lose sight of […]

The Wicker Man” is a peculiar little film. It begins as a typical mystery: a Scottish detective travels to a remote Island off Scotland’s coast where he is to investigate a report of a missing girl. Then the film mutates into a musical of sorts with numerous shots of topless women. Then it becomes a […]

Queens are not just characters is period romances. Or fantasy stories. “The Queen” is a fascinating look at a monarch of not only historical fact, but also of a modern world. Played with grace and poise by the great Helen Mirren, Queen Elizabeth II becomes a specimen for our the moviegoer’s microscope rather than remaining […]