‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ looks great, doesn’t have much of a point
Movie review: James Gunn’s first MCU entry looks great, but doesn’t have much of a point.
Oscars
‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ explores human nature via apes, brilliant special effects (Movie review)
The “Planet of the Apes” franchise shows us we’re not much different from apes, and we’re both victims of our respective races’ propensity for violence and destruction. But 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the […]
Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ blends science and spirituality
Movie review: Like “2001” and “Contact,” “Interstellar” shows science and spirituality can coexist in a grand space adventure.
Fincher’s stylish touch makes flawed ‘Gone Girl’ more engaging than it deserves to be (Movie review)
Since it’s the latest film from director David Fincher, who has a stylish knack for capturing the gritty essence of neighborhoods and bars and police stations, I recommend seeing “Gone Girl,”albeit in the cheap theater or […]
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ balances epic scope with character drama
Movie review: Just enjoy the ride and don’t think too hard about this timeline-jumping film.
‘Gravity’ a high-tech piece of minimalist filmmaking (Movie review)
Starting with its nearly 20-minute uncut opening shot of George Clooney and Sandra Bullock floating in space making repairs on a scientific satellite, the entire hour and 40 minutes of “Gravity” is packed with “How’d they […]
Hair, fashions shine in ‘American Hustle,’ and it’s a decent yarn, too (Movie review)
“American Hustle” starts by showing Christian Bale’s combover — understatedly termed “elaborate” by Amy Adams. It’s a perfect lead-in for a movie about a con-man and –woman (Bale and Adams), a corrupt politician (Jeremy Renner), an […]
Villeneuve’s ‘Prisoners’ is one of the year’s best thrillers (Movie review)
I held off for a while on seeing “Prisoners” because the previews seemed to give away the whole movie: 1) Girls kidnapped, 2) dad (Hugh Jackman) tortures suspect (Paul Dano) who is obviously innocent, 3) the film […]
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ boldly goes … where the saga has already gone before (Movie review)
Like director J.J. Abrams’ 2009 “Star Trek” film, “Star Trek Into Darkness” gets all the Trek-isms correct. Everyone is still spot-on as alternate-universe versions of the iconic characters, Scottie and Chekov have thick accents, there are winks […]
30 reasons ‘Return of the Jedi’ rocks (and no, ‘Jedi Rocks’ is not one of them) (Movie commentary)
“Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi” turns 30 on Saturday, and it’s still looking good. So much so that George Lucas recently gave the nod to a sequel. But the J.J. Abrams-helmed “Episode […]