Monthly Archives: August 2016

Had to happen. I mean, last weekend had “Florence Foster Jenkins,” “Anthropoid,” “Pete’s Dragon” and “Sausage Party” opening wide, “Hell or High Water” opening wider. And all were at least pretty good (“Pete’s Dragon”) and most were outstanding. So this … Continue reading →

It’s been a pretty good year for faith-based films, with “Risen” and “Miracles from Heaven” showing that Hollywood can get stories about Jesus and those who worship him right. The latest remake of “Ben-Hur” pretty much lets down the side, … Continue reading →

In “War Dogs,” a couple of homeys from Hebrew School take on the job of selling arms and ammunition to the U.S. military — for a big profit, of course. Because not everybody who got rich off the invasion of Iraq … Continue reading →

Actor turned actor/director Nate Parker and his film,  “Birth of a Nation”, were sensations at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. A whopping $17.5 million was paid for the rights to this account of the slave rebellion Virginian Nat Turner led … Continue reading →

Steve Gleason is a smart, articulate and self-aware retired NFL star whose life on the field was defined by one play — a blocked 2006 punt that came to symbolize his team’s and his city’s comeback from the devastation of … Continue reading →

“Indignation,” the latest Philip Roth novel to make it to the big screen, hangs on a trio of absolutely delicious if somewhat delusional confrontations — big scenes between its young hero, a secular Jew debating his Protestant academic dean about … Continue reading →

Laika is not an animation studio to coddle and over-protect children. The studio that scared kids and challenged younger viewers with “PAraNorman” and “Coraline” gets back to what it does best with “Kubo and the Two Strings,” an imaginative, scary … Continue reading →

  It seems like only yesterday — OK, it doesn’t, because really it was 2001 — that the video game creators of “Final Fantasy” sought to put their vision of their universe and their “story” in a big screen movie. … Continue reading →

The art of the “Karma’s a bitch, bro” letter has seemed a lost one, and this “FU” kiss-off from Gracie Law  to Warner Brothers CEO Kevin Tsujihara is notable only for its rarity. She was laid off during the bloodletting … Continue reading →

A very bad second weekend for “Suicide Squad” — a 70% plunge — will not know Warner’s latest DC adaptation off the top spot at the box office. It will still near $42 million in ticket sales by midnight Sunday, … Continue reading →