I was 14 years old in the summer of 1981 following my freshman year in high school. I had started to discover who I am and had already established my interest in computers and programming courtesy of the terminals we used to connect to a university’s mainframe computer via a telephone line. I went to […]

I was surprised when I heard that Grown Ups 2 was on the way. It’s the first sequel to an Adam Sandler film from his Happy Madison Productions. Moreover, I didn’t think that Grown Ups really needed a sequel. It tied up the story nicely, and everybody had a happy ending of sorts. Nevertheless, Grown […]

Rarely do I wish that a rumored casting decision favored the other person than the actor in the finished production. The Indiana Jones films would be quite different if Tom Selleck had put on the famous fedora. Even worse, Eric Stoltz was on his way to assuming the role of Marty McFly in the Back […]

It used to be that the summer’s biggest blockbuster would come out for the Fourth of July. Well, that horse already ran from the stable, so the film that should have received the prestige spot gets the attention this week. Pacific Rim is everything I want in a big-budget, special-effects-heavy movie. It’s exactly what you’d […]

Humanity fights back against an onslaught of monstrous creatures from the deep in the new action extravaganza Pacific Rim. Of all the talent in Hollywood, no one’s work intrigues me more than Guillermo del Toro. I certainly haven’t liked everything he’s done, but much of his work I find downright fascinating. His latest film, Pacific Rim, […]

A struggling 14 year-old finds solace and support at a local water park in the coming-of-age film The Way, Way Back. In the 1979 film Meatballs, Bill Murray‘s character (a camp counselor) says to a new arrival, “You must be the short depressed kid we ordered.” That film was another coming-of-age story involving another disconnected […]

Gru and family return for a sequel to the 2010 smash-hit original in Despicable Me 2. In the new installment, Gru has given up his evildoing aspirations in order to focus on being the best father he can be for his three girls — Margo, Edith and Agnes. Unfortunately, his evil past means he’s also the best […]

Many moons ago, kemosabe, Will Smith was the talk of the trail as he dominated the Fourth of July movies with Independence Day and then Men in Black. Greedy producers thought that they could produce the same magic once again, and they pushed their luck with a Western called Wild Wild West. Similarly, the folks […]

William Shakespeare‘s classic comedic play is reimagined by Joss Whedon in the latest version of Much Ado About Nothing. This famous tale has been the inspiration for countless romantic comedies over the years while the main play itself was adapted for the screen in 1993 by Kenneth Branagh. This time around, Joss Whedon of Buffy […]

The conflict between Jews and Arabs has been going on for so long that problems are just expected and dealt with on a daily basis in Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East. Such friction is made even worse when a trusted citizen becomes the target of hatred and prejudice after events that implicate him in […]

I was a big fan of Bridesmaids, and one of the main reasons was the out-of-control, wacky performance of Melissa McCarthy. When she’s on, she’s hilarious. When she’s off, you get something like Identity Thief. It’s strange that I’ve now discovered a movie where McCarthy fires on all cylinders and the movie still comes out […]

Sandra Bullock as an FBI agent and Melissa McCarthy as a Boston cop begrudgingly work together on a case that pushes them to turn up The Heat. Bullock plays FBI agent Sarah Ashburn — an agent with a personality as subtle as a brick and an ego to match. When a big promotion looms, she’s told […]