It’s like watching an unedited reality show rather than a polished, professional film.

The teenage years are often the most turbulent while growing up because of both the raging hormones and the quest for one’s identity and place in the world. If you add to the mix world events of considerable significance or some worthy cause, those same teenage years become even more emotional and difficult. I was […]

A doctor living in East Germany in 1980 is forced to endure the humiliation of working in a remote low-tech hospital in Barbara. Barbara is the kind of film artsy reviewers love but that challenge many viewers to comprehend why. It’s billed as a political and psychological thriller but will elicit little sense of either […]

The next grand tale from the author of the Twilight Saga pits humanity against an alien race that exists by inhabiting the bodies of other races in The Host. A race of aliens known as Souls takes over Earth over with almost no bloodshed. These Souls take over a human and eradicate all of their memories […]

Dramatic climate change suddenly threatens the existence of a solitary caveman family in the new animated film from Dreamworks—The Croods. The main plot of The Croods is pretty typical in that it takes current day aspects of everyday life and pastes them onto a Paleolithic family. The father, Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage), is obsessed […]

It’s dull, flat and extremely predictable almost in an insulting fashion.

I’m sure you remember when you saw The Hangover for the first time because it was a funny, bizarre film constructed like a mystery. The questions at the heart of the mystery kept audiences interested, and the wacky, vulgar humor kept them laughing. It’s OK to duplicate your own creations as long as the copies […]

An unassuming local adman is recruited to head up the messaging for a referendum vote to determine the fate of Chile’s long-time dictator in the new foreign film, No. In 1988, under intense worldwide pressure, Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet decided to allow his people to vote on whether he should run the country for another […]

I really hate when filmmakers develop unnecessary sequels to perfectly good stand-alone movies just to try to capitalize on the success of the originals. More often than not, the sequels are lousy and derivative, and they bomb with fans and at the box office. The sequel to The Blair Witch Project is the most obvious […]

The titular liars and deniers get screen time in clips that make their comments and stances look particularly foolish.

Veteran 911 operator Halle Berry is pushed to the breaking point, along with the audience, when she takes The Call. This is the latest thriller from director Brad Anderson who last kept audiences on the edge of their seat with his 2008 tension-inducer, Transsiberrian (though I wasn’t one of them). The Call focuses on Jordan Turner […]

Matthew Fox stars as a World War II general who walks a tightrope between revenge and justice for Japan’s divine leader in Emperor. Fox plays Brigadier General Bonner Fellers, a member of General Douglas MacArthur‘s staff. MacArthur is recreated here in commendable fashion by Tommy Lee Jones. The movie literally starts off with a big bang as […]