As a huge fan of magic, I couldn’t wait for Now You See Me after I saw the trailer. Here was an attempt to use magic in a heist film to pull off the robberies. If it worked, it would be brilliant. If it failed, it would fail brilliantly. Unfortunately, things are never quite as […]

James McAvoy stars as a cash-strapped art auctioneer who pulls off a stunning heist of a top painting only to forget where he stashed it in the new Danny Boyle film, Trance. McAvoy’s character, Simon, works at a high-end auction firm and knows the complexities involved in trying to make off with a priceless painting. […]

You may have been in a doctor’s office and seen well-dressed men and women with large briefcases or bags and prominent name tags. No, they’re not Mormons. These are drug reps for major pharmaceutical companies. They bring gifts (drug samples or pens) and have pizza delivered to the doctors and their staff in order to […]

Side Effects is the latest (and possibly final) film from director Steven Soderbergh. This effort brought me through a potpourri of feelings. I found it curious, compelling, dull, thought-provoking, thrilling, tense, sexual, smart and satisfying—in that order. This is not a film for anyone who has major issues with prescribed drugs as it starts off very […]

Cloud Atlas is a tale of six different time periods and people that connect each period together—or at least I think that’s the idea. This is an epic film with an epic tale and an epic cast that epically failed to interest me for more than a few minutes of its nearly-epic three hour running […]

I managed to catch the highly-anticipated Prometheus from Ridley Scott. This is, essentially, the prequel to his smash hit Alien. Scott has been a challenge for me. Much of his biggest films I’ve found lacking heavily—most often with regard to entirely silly plot points that flat-out make no sense. Thus, I tend to wait to see his films. Friends […]

I wasn’t going to see The Cabin in the Woods. Its marketing efforts somehow managed to totally fail with respect to garnering any of my interest. I saw a preview a while back and it looked like another campy, quirky horror/slasher film that would be quickly forgotten. Then a friend of mine from Penn Gamers, […]

The previews for Super 8 make it crystal clear that Steven Spielberg was involved with the film and suggest he played a pretty big role in every part of its development. The end product, quite heavily, feels as if director J.J. Abrams set out to create an homage to Spielberg with this major release. Many films […]

First I need to point out that I never read the book. Second, the theater I saw this at never mentioned it was Part I, of a trilogy no less. Lord of the Rings this isn’t. The film, from an incredibly dense novel from Ayn Rand, revolves around the trials and tribulations of a pair […]

While on an industry event of my own I managed to find the time to check out Liam Neeson‘s newest film, Unknown. Neeson’s character is (ironically) on a trip with his wife as a guest speaker at an industry event in Berlin. After an accident he wakes up several days later in the hospital and, upon leaving, […]

…he’s either a complete boob, a complete ego-maniac or is having us on.

There’s very little new information here and that makes for a bit of a trying experience.