Monthly Archives: January 2013

“Winnie the Pooh,” Disney’s latest film revival of A.A. Milne’s “willy, nilly, silly old bear,” is longer on charm than it is on laughs. Or length. But it’s a treat for children making their first trek to the multiplex and … Continue reading →

We want the same thing from our comedians that we expect of great ballplayers – that they “leave it all on the field.” And Kevin James does that. From his various team-ups with Adam Sandler to “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” … Continue reading →

Stories of 911 operators who save lives, or blunder and don’t save them, are a staple of the evening news. So “The Call,” about one such operator (Halle Berry) and the murder she facilitates, by accident, seems like a natural. … Continue reading →

Documentary filmmaker Andrew Rossi spent “a year inside The New York Times” for his film, “Page One,” capturing one of the world’s great newspapers as it struggled, along with every other newspaper, to stay relevant and profitable in a media … Continue reading →

“Fanny, Annie  & Danny” is a daft pitch-black dark comedy about family dysfunction that plays out over painfully ugly family Christmas celebration.

Another version of Earth appears in the heavens, close enough to us for the human race to ponder the possibilities of a world that is “a mirror to our own” in “Another Earth.” But this quiet, intimate drama is science … Continue reading →

Bradley Cooper graduates from supporting roles in ensemble pictures to leading man and handles the transition with skill, if not a lot of charisma, in “Limitless.” Cooper (“The Hangover,” “The A-Team”) has to be convincingly dull and believably brilliant in … Continue reading →

Not a lot of love affairs, real or cinematic, can have it said of them that they end better than they begin.  But “One Day” ends with a heartfelt flourish that was sorely missing from its first 90 minutes. This … Continue reading →

Daniel Craig carries a Steve McQueen cool — a man of few words toughness — in his latest film. And had McQueen ever taken on a Western that also involves bug-eyed aliens kidnapping the locals, he’d have played it a … Continue reading →

Jenna Fischer talks directly to the camera in early scenes in “A Little Help.” She lets us see the life that’s overwhelming her, the bitterness that threatens to swallow her whole and the irritation she’s trying her darnedest to hide.