The real elevation exists between the audience and the story’s believability.

Prequels are always problematic because they begin with a distinct disadvantage. They do not continue the story in the original film or series, and even worse, the elephant in the room is that they need to fit into the time line and plot as laid out before without any radical changes. For all of the […]

A dysfunctional family gathers together in a time of need, only to find more challenges than answers, in August: Osage County. Many years ago, my grandfather shared with me a key piece of wisdom that, I’m embarrassed to say, I learned far later than I should have. I’d been struggling with some family dynamics, and […]

The enigmatic college dropout rises to become one of the most respected (and feared) business leaders in history in Jobs. Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) was a force from his earliest days. Never one to play to social norms, Jobs moved to the beat of his own internal drummer. He had the gift for visionary thinking […]

An emotionally disconnected teen struggles after the unexpected death of her father forces her to confront a distant mother and an uncle she never knew existed in Stoker. 18 year-old India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) suddenly finds herself thrown into unknown territory when her beloved father (played in flashback by Dermot Mulroney) is killed in a […]

I love creepy, moody films whether they’re thrillers, horror flicks or some combination thereof. The work of some filmmakers like David Cronenberg, Tim Burton and David Lynch just ooze unique characteristics and techniques that identify them. Korean director Park Chan-wook fits in with that company, too. Known best as cowriter/director of the Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy […]

Liam Neeson‘s latest film is The Grey. Neeson has been one of my favorite actors over the years but frequent readers of my reviews will no doubt recall that I’ve had major problems with his latest films. The guy is a long way from Shindler’s List. It’s also been 8 years since 2004’s Kinsey, which is the last […]

This past week I saw another two movies and for the first time in a long time I felt like there were a lot of choices for a change. The first movie is Flash of Genius. This is the true story of the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. Unfortunately the movie is almost as […]