Yearly Archives: 2016

It has eye-popping special effects and a true larger-than-life villain. “X-Men: Apocalypse,” is actually about something, with the intramural/intra-mutant quarrel built on a reality that the shoe-horned in fight in the blockbuster “Captain America: Civil War”lacks. The violence has consequences. … Continue reading →

Tina Fey never gave Katrina Bowden much to say or do on her TV show, “30 Rock.” All Cerie, her character, had to do was waltz on screen in some tight, revealing outfit, and Bowden’s work was done. Jaws dropped … Continue reading →

The reviews of “Captain America: Civil War,” have been overwhelmingly positive. Many are raves. Just like the reviews of “Barbershop: The Next Cut,” or “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” I’ve been in that tiny minority, on all three occasions, shouting … Continue reading →

There’s a “for fans only” feel to the latest “Avengers” movie, “Captain America: Civil War.” A talky, often ponderous exercise in comic book movie elephantiasis, it overdoses on characters, old and new, sometimes not even bothering to name them. The … Continue reading →

As much as we all love “discovering” fresh, new talent, there’s something to be said for casting your film with, if you can, movie stars. They understand, perhaps intuitively, something about the camera, how to leap through the lens, make … Continue reading →

Suspension of disbelief is maybe the most important ingredient in drama — on film, stage or TV. We need to believe the characters, the situations, in order to empathize with those characters and lose ourselves in the story. That one … Continue reading →

Damn. That’s on the money. Emma Stone as Billie Jean King and Steve Carrell as Bobby Riggs? The middle of the Glory Days of American Tennis, and a tennis match that turned into the Shot for Equality Heard Round the … Continue reading →

A couple of pictures going into wide release this weekend are earning widespread endorsements. A couple of others, not so much. “Keanu” is mostly for fans of Comedy Central’s “Key & Peele” sketch-comedy series. It’s a sloppily-plotted, violent, hit-or-miss R-rated … Continue reading →

If  you’re a filmmaker, chances are you’re going to be shoved into a pigeon-hole. Your best hope is to find a fun, comfy one and maybe make the best of it. John Carney’s “first, best destiny,” as Mr. Spock of … Continue reading →

  There’s a world-weary misanthropy than runs through child-star turned adult comic actor and director Jason Bateman’s work. And that trademark “I have no you-and-I-no-whats left to give” permeates “The Family Fang,” his second feature film as director/co-star. But that … Continue reading →