
While documentaries presumably capture real life, fact and fiction can blend just as easily as in any other genre. So when The Summit opens with an acknowledgement that the exact truth of what happened on K2 in August, 2009 is unknown, it’s
by Darin Miller11 Oct 2013, 4:03 PM PST0

The Beatles and Elvis Presley famously incorporated themselves and their music into narrative movies. Other bands have opted to sell concerts or create documentaries about themselves. Metallica, in Metallica Through the Never, has chosen a different course: a blend of
by Darin Miller27 Sep 2013, 1:04 PM PST0

We last saw the escaped convict Riddick (Vin Diesel with cat eyes) enthroned before an army of planet-hopping Necromongers. Having killed the Necromonger Lord Marshall, Riddick became their leader–per their “keep what you kill” code of governance. That was in 2004.
by Darin Miller6 Sep 2013, 6:02 AM PST0

Having successfully conquered the world of NASCAR with the hit Cars, Disney has taken to the sky. The latest installment into the Universe of Cars is Planes, an international underdog story. Dusty (voiced by Dane Cook) is a young crop duster
by Darin Miller9 Aug 2013, 5:50 AM PST0

R.I.P.D. has the ingredients of a blockbuster: Robert Schwentke of Red directs the Men in Black-style buddy cop comic adaptation, starring Jeff Bridges as a rugged law man not unlike Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Ryan Reynolds is theoretically the weakest
by Darin Miller23 Jul 2013, 4:23 PM PST0

Henry David Thoreau went to the woods because he wanted to live deliberately. And given the wordy dialogue spoken by some of screenwriter Chris Galletta’s characters, The Kings of Summer seems to nod at Thoreau’s brave desire to cut a broad
by Darin Miller7 Jun 2013, 5:33 AM PST0

The 17-year periodical cicadas are supposed to be bad this year, leaving their shells on trees and keeping people awake at night with their singing. So it’s fitting that Epic too arrives in 2013. Epic, a wheeling, action-filled tale based
by Darin Miller25 May 2013, 10:02 AM PST0

Last year Mel Gibson made headlines for the direct-to-VOD Get the Gringo, a fun picture about an American surviving inside a ruthless Mexican prison. Netflix’s upcoming Arrested Development season and House of Cards prove that such strategies can and will
by Darin Miller5 May 2013, 9:56 AM PST0

Just years after the end of World War II, Thor Heyerdahl reminded the world that adventure was not just in destruction on the battlefield, but in conquering nature. That’s the story of Kon-Tiki, the Norwegian foreign film Oscar nominee. Thor
by Darin Miller3 May 2013, 12:44 PM PST0

In the final moments of Beyond the Hills, a passing bus splashes dirty slush onto the windshield of a police van. The van’s wipers smear the grimy water across the windshield. It’s one of the more exciting moments in a
by Darin Miller29 Mar 2013, 6:02 AM PST0

In 2012, Paramount and Universal Studios both celebrated their 100-year anniversaries. So it might seem a bit odd, and rather opportunistic, that Warner Bros. decided to celebrate their 90th this year. The studio’s reasoning is good, though: The decade that
by Darin Miller3 Mar 2013, 9:21 AM PST0

In Freedom, author Jonathan Franzen compares pop music hits to chicklets: their flavor is easily accessible, and when you’re through with them, you spit them out and move onto something else. He might say the same about the MTV-Paramount-MGM collaboration Hansel
by Darin Miller25 Jan 2013, 7:00 AM PST0

Baltimore, excitement over the Ravens aside, is a depressed city. Its unemployment rate has been consistently above the rest of the U.S. for years, reaching 12.6 percent in August 2010. It lingers above 9 percent today. Aggravating the bleak situation
by Darin Miller18 Jan 2013, 5:17 AM PST0

The foreign language Academy Award nominee from Germany this year once again focuses on the dark decades the eastern half of the country endured while under Soviet influence. Set in 1980, “Barbara” details the life of a doctor, Barbara Wolff
by Darin Miller21 Dec 2012, 5:24 AM PST0

Santa Claus has been brought to the screen for decades as a jolly gift giver making kids’ dreams come true, with the occasional divergence as a killer purging his naughty list. In “Rise of the Guardians,” director Peter Ramsey and
by Darin Miller21 Nov 2012, 5:24 AM PST0

The Petraeus scandal is an unfortunate reminder of the devastating damage an affair can cause. Russian author Leo Tolstoy recognized the danger of straying from a spouse, even going so far as to quote Romans 12:19, “Vengeance is mine, I
by Darin Miller15 Nov 2012, 3:43 PM PST0

A year after “Bridesmaids” became a female comedy sensation Anna Kendrick and a comic cast of ladies are poised to do it again. Kendrick, sassy and delightful, is the sarcastic but adorable star of “Pitch Perfect,” a PG-13 ensemble comedy
by Darin Miller5 Oct 2012, 4:55 AM PST0

Everything wrong with “Hit and Run” can be summed up in a moment when Dax Shepard’s character tells his girlfriend Annie (Kristen Bell) why he chose the name Charles Bronson for his alias in the witness protection program. Charles’ father
by Darin Miller24 Aug 2012, 11:08 AM PST0

It’s fitting that “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” was released on the opening day of the 2012 LondonOlympic Games. Ai, the film’s subject, gained international recognition for his involvementin designing Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium. But he threw away his societal
by Darin Miller27 Jul 2012, 12:58 PM PST0

The battle of Gettysburg was, by all accounts, a turning point in the American Civil War. But thanks to best-selling author Seth Grahame-Smith, and the cinematic adaptation of his Lincoln “biography,” future generations may view the battle in a different
by Darin Miller22 Jun 2012, 7:00 AM PST0

Few crimes appall the general populace like those committed against children, the subject of a haunting new French film called “Polisse.” The cops who make up the child protection unit in Paris wade through these most reprehensible cases daily. And
by Darin Miller9 Jun 2012, 7:11 AM PST0

Tartarus is the hell of Greek mythology, but in Hollywood remakes it’s as popular a destination as Olympus itself. Disney and 20th Century Fox sent Hercules and Percy Jackson down to the depths of the underworld. Now Warner Brothers has
by Darin Miller31 Mar 2012, 5:00 AM PST0

The ’80s TV show “21 Jump Street,” about an undercover police unit that specialized in combating youth crime, helped launch Johnny Depp’s career. The show’s original producer dusted the concept off for a feature film update, and with Jonah Hill
by Darin Miller16 Mar 2012, 5:00 AM PST0
If you love B-movies with plenty of camp, comedy and gore, then you’ve probably seen a few films created by the writer/producer/director Roger Corman, the man behind SyFy channel pictures like “Dinocroc vs. Supergator” and older classics like the original
by Darin Miller5 Feb 2012, 11:01 AM PST0
Millennials are obsessed with capturing their lives online. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter. Most people are boring enough that their compulsive documentation is really unnecessary. The story of “Chronicle” is the exception. Loner Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), his cousin Matt Garetty (Alex
by Darin Miller3 Feb 2012, 10:21 AM PST0