A mild-mannered but highly-talented unknown artist falls for a charming schemer in Big Eyes. In the early 1950s, Margaret Ulbrich (Amy Adams) found herself in a bad marriage with a young daughter in a world that left her few options. Against common convention, she took matters into her own hands, separating from her husband and moving out […]
A young man trades a troubled youth for Olympic success before taking on his greatest challenge as a prisoner of war in Unbroken. Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) grew up in the shadow of his older brother Pete. In an effort to stand apart, Louis often chose to focus his boundless energy on hijinks that more […]
Potential tragedy looms for the magical occupants of a famed New York museum in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. In the third installment of the series, museum security guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) returns with a new responsibility. His boss, Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais), has entrusted him to provide the “special effects” […]
Most film trilogies build up to a finale that pulls together all of the characters and subplots into a satisfying story that resolves most things for those who invested in the series. That is certainly the case for The Lord of the Rings. Each film got better until the moving, dramatic third entry that was […]
The adopted son of an Egyptian Pharaoh becomes an unlikely messenger for his people in Exodus: Gods and Kings. In his final years as Pharaoh, Seti (John Turturro) believes that his biological son Ramses (Joel Edgerton) doesn’t possess the right temperament to lead his people. It’s in his adopted son Moses (Christian Bale) that he […]
I like Chris Rock. I really do. His distinct voice, sarcastic wit, perfect delivery and in-your-face subject matter and truths combine to make him perfect for comedy. Saturday Night Live rocketed him to stardom as it has so many other comedians, and he developed a strong presence in the movies with successes like Lethal Weapon […]
I’ve never been a fan of splitting movies. In recent years, when the last Harry Potter book was split into two movies, it opened the floodgates for other series like Twilight, The Hunger Games and The Hobbit to do the same. If I thought like a movie producer or company, I would see the brilliance […]
A socially awkward, brilliant doctoral student meets the girl of his dreams before facing a life-changing illness in The Theory of Everything. While studying at Cambridge in 1963, 21-year-old Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) had begun to make a mark among both his professors and his peers. He was already showing an academic level of talent that would one […]
An avalanche at a French ski resort threatens to bury a family’s future in Force Majeure. Would you take a bullet for your spouse? Would you hang precariously from a ledge in an attempt to pull your child to safety? Would you stay behind in a fire to make sure that everyone else gets out […]
A rudderless young woman decides to disappear from her own reality in hopes of finding her true calling in Laggies. 10 years after high school, Megan (Keira Knightley) still hasn’t found a way to move on with her life. All of her friends have long since moved on with theirs — getting married, having kids, starting a […]
A brainy young teen, his robot companion and a group of misfit friends form an unlikely clan of crime fighters in the animated adventure Big Hero 6. Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter) is a natural whiz at robotics engineering. That’s quite an accomplishment for an otherwise typical 14-year-old boy. He uses his skills to craft […]
After their son is killed in action, his recovering parents welcome one of his team into their home in The Guest. The Peterson family is enduring a tragedy that few of us can begin to truly comprehend and none of us want to experience. Caleb Peterson was killed during a combat mission in Afghanistan. His parents, Laura […]