Monthly Archives: March 2013

Skip past the lame title and weary Stone Age premise. “The Croods” is the first pleasant surprise of spring, a gorgeous kids’ cartoon with heart and wit, if not exactly a firm grasp of paleontology. It’s about a family of … Continue reading →

The most telling image about Navy SEAL Michael Murphy in the new documentary “Murph: The Protector,” is a snippet of video from a high school football game. Murphy has just caught a pass near the other team’s goal line. He’s … Continue reading →

  Get past discussions of artistic intent, of the potential career benefits that the cast and filmmakers might have seen in making “Spring Breakers.” What it really boiled down to is this. “None of us had ever experienced Spring Break,” … Continue reading →

There’s been talk for the better part of a year, a little smack here and there that claims that James Franco based his drawling, hoodlum/rapper/pimped-out Camaro driver “Alien” in “Spring Breakers” on one guy — Houston-based rapper Riff Raff. A … Continue reading →

This comes down to pride. It does. Will Tom Cruise, who is being shown the door in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise — sort or — grab ahold of another spy project to “just show THEM”? Guy Ritchie is the latest … Continue reading →

He’s a hard dude to draw a bead on, this James Franco. He’ll be dismissed for years, then pull a performance in “Milk” or “127 Hours” out and make you go, “What?” He took at a dive at the Oscars, … Continue reading →

“The Sapphires” is an unpolished gem of a musical, a dramedy with a familiar ‘60s girl-group-on-the-rise story pasted over a backdrop of Australian racism and America’s long war in Vietnam. It’s a tribute to the filmmakers (director Wayne Blair, working … Continue reading →

Tina Fey makes funny TV shows, funny movies and funny books. Director Paul Weitz often goes for something beyond funny – emotional stories of parents and children trying to puzzle out something beyond flesh and blood that bonds them. She … Continue reading →

Teen pop idols rarely have a shot at a big second act in life. For every Mark Wahlberg and Donnie Wahlberg, there are a legion of Leif Garretts and Tiffanys, Miley Cyruses and Hilary Duffs. But Nick Jonas is getting … Continue reading →