A 12-year-old boy is kidnapped from the local orphanage and embarks on a fantastical journey in the recklessly reimagined Pan. J.M. Barrie‘s beloved character Peter Pan returns for another in a long list of many remakes, reboots and reimaginings. To date, I’ve enjoyed none of them, including the iconic 1953 animated Disney film. I did love both 2004’s […]
A young single father has to swallow his pride and accept the unthinkable after the family house is repossessed in 99 Homes. Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) is like countless other typical hard-working Americans. He lives paycheck to paycheck, taking whatever construction work that he can find to keep his family in the only house that […]
A loyal career cop takes on her biggest foe when she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer in the touching true-life film Freeheld. Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) served with distinction as a police officer in Ocean County, New Jersey, for over two decades. Her career came to a premature end when Laurel was diagnosed with a very […]
An astronaut stranded on Mars tries to survive its hostile environment in the spellbinding sci-fi thriller The Martian. Botanist/scientist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is living out an incredible dream. He and his fellow shipmates are astronauts conducting a mission on the surface of Mars. An unexpected calamity forces the entire crew to rush back to […]
A SWAT team agent joins a covert government assignment to take down a daunting drug lord in the painfully slow Sicario. Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is a proud, practiced FBI agent. She represents everything that’s good about law enforcement; she’s dedicated to its principles and excels at delivering tangible results. When the stakes get raised, […]
Twin ten-year-old boys interrogate their mother after she returns home from major surgery in the highly manipulative Goodnight Mommy. Elias (Elias Schwarz) and his twin brother Lukas (Lukas Schwarz) are the sons of a local celebrity. Their mother (Susanne Wuest) is a well-known TV news personality and has just returned home from major cosmetic surgery. […]
A major catalyst that culminated in the first Gay Pride parade is re-created in the painfully awkward film Stonewall. The late 1960s marked an era of cultural upheaval in America. Socially ostracized groups of every type struggled to gain acceptance and equality, including the gay community of New York City. The epicenter of their efforts […]
A country trying to win the Cold War turns to an erratic chess prodigy as its would-be champion in the tepid drama Pawn Sacrifice. You cannot talk about chess history without invoking the name of Bobby Fischer. His famous triumph over then-World Champion Boris Spassky is the kind of story that embodies the phrase “stuff […]
In the early days of IMAX, you had to go to a science museum or other specialized installation to see the large-format films. Many of these presentations were made inside domes or other structures rather than on traditional movie screens. Over two decades later, most major theaters have an IMAX screen. The early draws were […]
An unpredictable Boston hood turns FBI informant with unexpected consequences in the violent, cartoonish drama Black Mass. A young gangster from “Southy” grows up seeing only one path for his life — crime. James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp) knows that power and intimidation are the key ingredients to expanding his influence and empire. He surrounds […]
Two young siblings spend a disturbing week with their estranged grandparents in the painfully sophomoric thriller The Visit. Single mom Paula Jamison (Kathryn Hahn) left home in a huff 15 years ago and never looked back. A decade-and-a-half later, Paula feels the guilt of raising two children with no knowledge of their own grandparents. She […]
A highly debated and mostly unaccepted theory to housebreak a dog is to rub its nose in the mess that it left behind to try to teach it not to do it there again. After seeing The Visit, the latest release from Philly’s own M. Night Shyamalan, I feel like the filmmaker is rubbing our […]