The new drama The Book Thief isn’t focused on the enormity of the Holocaust and the devastation that Hitler and the Nazis brought to Germany and the world. Instead, the focus is on how one seemingly normal were affected by
If The Avengers brought a lighter tone to the cinematic comic book genre, Thor 2: The Dark World is a simple byproduct of that. Now that the characters have been introduced to a mainstream audience, the sequel gives the screenwriters
“I love first times. I want my entire life to be composed of them,” says Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan) in the new drama Kill Your Darlings. The film itself is packed with first times for its main character Allen Ginsberg,
It’s been years since Harrison Ford starred in a meaningful sci-fi epic. But now the Oscar-nominated actor has returned to space for his new film Ender’s Game, where he plays a gruff and tough colonel, whose animosity towards an interplanetary
Writer Cormac McCarthy is better known as a novelist than a screenwriter. He penned the novels that were adapted into films like All the Pretty Horses, The Road and the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men. But in The Counselor,
It is a tiny town in Alabama, and it changed the career of Aretha Franklin. As the legendary singer recounts in the new documentary Muscle Shoals, her career was suffering when she arrived in the Southern community to record some
In the 1979 Oscar-winning drama Kramer vs. Kramer, a young son watches as his parent’s relationship falls apart. He sees his mother leave the family and then watches as his two parents fight over him. Now, imagine that kid 25
The biggest problem with the new thriller Runner Runner isn’t what’s onscreen, although the plot and the dialogue are often cringe-worthy. The great issue with the film is that we’ve seen all that it has to offer in countless other,
When packing for a major trip, travelers usually fill their suitcases with an eclectic mix of goods. Items of clothing are shoved into pieces of luggage alongside toiletries, books, possibly a computer and other miscellaneous things. All in all, the
If there is one word that can be used to describe the new kidnapping drama Prisoners, that word is methodical. This slow-paced, sizzling thriller never jumps from scene to scene, leaving the viewer’s head spinning with outrageous plot twists. Instead,
A few scenes in the new dramedy The Family reference one of Robert De Niro’s great mob dramas. De Niro has appeared in a lot of great mob movies, so I won’t spoil which one is talked about here. What
There are a variety of fragile characters in the new film Short Term 12. There’s a withdrawn female teenager who wants to be left alone. There’s a kid who likes to run away from his caretakers. And there’s a violent teenager
Closed Circuit begins with an explosion and ends with a political debate. By the time its short 96-minute running time elapses, viewers will inevitably wonder why the story works as poorly as it does. Here we have two strong actors and
Miles Teller has made a career out of partying. Onscreen, that is. In films like Footloose, Project X and 21 & Over, he played characters who enjoyed drinking and having a good time. In The Spectacular Now, he sobers up.
At the end of the new film 2 Guns, some of the heroes and the villains have cartoonishly betrayed one another. The plot, which started out innocently enough, has gone off the deep end. And the story’s endless twists and turns
The original Red (2010) was a fun escapist action comedy featuring an A-list cast willing to act silly to earn a few good laughs. Some of the film’s plot was absurd and the conspiracy at its heart underwhelming, but the
It would likely come as a surprise to those who have studied the layers of the planet Earth that one of the deepest layers underneath the ground is packed with monsters. Lots and lots of monsters. That’s one of the
Disney’s The Lone Ranger is a strange concoction. At times, it plays like a goofy blockbuster but at other times, it feels like a self-important story. Bloated beyond belief, the Johnny Depp vehicle accomplishes some of what it set out
When a director helms a major hit, it sometimes overshadows much of his career. M. Night Shyamalan, for one, was inevitably hurt by the fact that nothing he did after The Sixth Sense (1999) compared to that Oscar-nominated drama. The
“Movement is life,” says former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) in the new film World War Z. He’s referring to the best way to survive the apocalyptic zombie attacks that are quickly destroying the human race. The quote
When a group of well-known celebrities collaborate on a film, the results can be catastrophic. In Movie 43 (2013), we saw a dozen A-list actors embarrass themselves in a series of disparate and disgusting video segments. Likewise, in New Year’s
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson made a strong team in the 2005 comedy WeddingCrashers. They invaded nuptial ceremonies together, partied together and took on falsepersonalities together. In The Internship, the two have invaded a new world: the offices of Google.
Peeples is a rare Tyler Perry treat. It’s a film that the successful director worked on but didn’t hold back from critics in advance of its release date. Many of the movies that Perry has been heavily involved in are
Zac Efron could probably headline any film he wanted. The star has a built-in fan base from his High School Musical days that would likely follow him from one empty romantic comedy to the next. That’s why it’s so exciting
Pain and Gain is an oddly disconcerting film. At the same time that it mocks the dimness of its leads (and admittedly, they are quite dumb), it also unabashedly embraces the violence and relentless energy of a typical Michael Bay
