Buddy cop movies work best when there’s just as much humor or more as there is investigation into some crime. If you think back through the entries in some of the best franchises in this genre like Beverly Hills Cop, Rush Hour, Lethal Weapon and even The Heat, you also realize that one of the […]
An adolescent viking and his pet dragon encounter a disturbing clan that threatens the peace in How to Train Your Dragon 2. 2010’s animated film How to Train Your Dragon was one of my five best for the year. It introduced us to the story of young Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), the awkward but inventive son […]
Three college friends head off to catch a computer hacker and find themselves forever changed by their incomprehensible fate in The Signal. Nic Eastman (Brenton Thwaites) and Jonah Breck (Beau Knapp) are freshmen computer geeks from MIT. They’ve recently been captivated by the exploits of a new, renowned hacker who broke into MIT’s network. When the hacker, […]
A slowly-dying, remote harbor community needs a doctor to close a deal to save its future and plans to get one by any means in The Grand Seduction. The picturesque but isolated town of Tickle Head, on the coast of Newfoundland, has struggled for decades to remain relevant. Its better days are just a distant memory […]
Two middle-aged, wayward prep-school teachers debate the value of their chosen subjects in Words and Pictures. The history of the written word goes back more than 5,000 years. The history of art-based imagery goes back even further. Both have captured the best and worst of humanity throughout our storied existence. Poets, playwrights, painters and psychopaths […]
Wait a minute! Didn’t I just see and review a movie about time travel?! Yes, it was X-Men: Days of Future Past, yet here I am again with another review about a plot that jumps in time. Maybe I’m in a time loop, so I’d better try harder to get it right this time and […]
A bright, logical teenage cancer patient unexpectedly finds her soul mate at a support group in The Fault in Our Stars. Sixteen-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) has struggled with cancer for much of her short life. After nearly dying some years before, she’s now settled into her eventual fate and spends her time tethered to […]
A noncombatant Army officer is compelled to take part in a final offensive against invading aliens, only to relive the battle countless times, in Edge of Tomorrow. Earth’s been invaded by an alien race that’s suddenly stalled after nearly eradicating much of Europe. The commander leading the unified fighting forces, General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson), decides on an […]
Great fairy tales, even the darker ones, completely take you out of the theater to a place where you’ve never been before and reward you with a fable and unique, fantastic characters. I think back to the experiences that I had when I first saw Shrek, Labyrinth, Beauty and the Beast and any number of […]
I love comedies, and I enjoy certain types of Westerns as well, especially those that push the boundaries in some way like Unforgiven or The Proposition. A Million Ways to Die in the West purports to be a Western comedy, yet it satisfies only the Western half of that description with its setting. It doesn’t […]
A spineless sheep rancher, obsessed with the harsh realities of Nineteenth Century life, falls for the wrong woman in A Million Ways to Die in the West. Animated TV comedy virtuoso Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy and American Dad) spoofs the classic Western at the helm of his second feature-length movie. The look and sound of the film’s […]
An eighteen-year-old, preparing to take her final vows, must choose between the church and a family connection she never knew in Ida. An orphaned infant girl, delivered to a Polish convent, grew up oblivious to her real identity, heritage and any ties to existing family. Raised by the sisters of the nunnery, her only guiding […]