Monthly Archives: March 2016

Hey kids, we WANT to love Pee Wee’s new movie. Honest we do! Sure, he’s 63. And he’s 30 years removed from “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” And just as many years separated from Tim Burton, who made that film a … Continue reading →

One joke comedies rarely work, even when the one joke is “sex with a gymnast.” And even when that one joke, a pommel horse punchline long before “Seinfeld” rendered it the object of every man’s fantasy, is delivered by that … Continue reading →

Morgan Freeman and a lot of folks most of us won’t recognize star in this digitally-augmented remake of “A tale of the Christ,” “Ben-Hur.” Insane that Hollywood would remake it, but with CGI being what it is, you don’t have … Continue reading →

OK, it looks like “X-Men” for toddlers. But…Tim Burton! TIM BURTON! A couple of eye-popping bits to feast on, for sure.

“The Brothers Grimsby” is 83 minutes of excruciating, nauseating, boundary-pushing “comedy” that never for a second feels like it’s anything but visual evidence of the end of Sacha Baron Cohen’s comic leading-man career. And in a lame buddy picture, to … Continue reading →

It now being an established fact that these “Divergent” movies are a terrible, hackwork embarrassment to science fiction, YA films and action cinema in general, the time has come to fret over their real impact. Have they broken Shailene Woodley? … Continue reading →

A movie must stand on it own legs. If it must be explained by its filmmakers or propped up by our vivid, fill-in-the-missing-parts memories of a book, play or previous film it is based on, then somebody has fallen down … Continue reading →

As faith-based films go, “Miracles from Heaven” is a bit of a soft-sell. Faith is present and the faithful are tested — by bad fortune, by the medical establishment, by their fellow churchgoers. But when good things happen to a … Continue reading →

“Take Me to the River” is a quietly disturbing slice of Southern Gothic that isn’t Southern at all. It’s a Nebraska-California culture clash/sexual abuse story confined and contained in a single family, on a family farm over a reunion/birthday celebration … Continue reading →

The rise and fall of cyclist Lance Armstrong earns a brisk and surprisingly nuanced treatment from director Stephen Frears in “The Program.” The veteran Frears, of “The Queen”, “The Grifters,” “High Fidelity” and “Philomena,” finds the good and bad in … Continue reading →