Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

So let’s read some polls — the Metacritic and Tomatometer ones — read some tea-leaves and read between the lines about what people are saying about this weekend’s potential blockbusters. After that first trailer came out, the talk about “Ghostbusters” … Continue reading →

The new “Ghostbusters” is just different enough from the old “Ghost Busters” to be worth the trouble. Flipping the gender of the cast makes for an appreciably different take on the material, and the effects are 30 years bigger and … Continue reading →

We know there’s this dust-up between George Takei, the original Sulu, and screenwriter/actor Simon Pegg, who outed the new Sulu in the new film. Zachary “Mr. Spock” Quinto, out and proud, has weighed in.  We know that Justin Lin, whose … Continue reading →

I sit in a theater, an audience of one for “Our Kind of Traitor,” and I ponder something producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald said about Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson when “The Island” came out back in 2005. They aren’t … Continue reading →

Fame came late, and after some rather severe life-tests, for Bryan Cranston. So one can’t blame him for trying to make up for lost time in terms of figuring out what star vehicles to attempt on the big screen. But … Continue reading →

The telling take on “The Secret Life of Pets” will be what it does its second weekend. But as for openers? It’s a big hit — $95 million plus. “Finding Dory” is finally displaced as the top draw, but it … Continue reading →

I defy anybody over the age of 8 to get much of anything out of “The Secret Life of Pets.” But perhaps the fact that we’re two generations past the many TV iterations of “Looney Tunes” and Saturday morning kid-watching … Continue reading →

With Daniel Craig’s years-in-the-making exit from playing James Bond, all the speculation has been about “Who will replace him?” It’s focused, mainly, on Idris Elba (cool enough, an interesting choice in these inclusive times, but a bit old — 44 … Continue reading →

In a world of documentary gadflies, navel gazers and agenda-pushers, Alex Gibney has earned a “teller of hard truths” reputation. If you’re in the know, or simply want to be, he is documentary cinema’s E.F. Hutton. When Gibney talks, about … Continue reading →

That’s quite the big screen image that Aubrey Plaza has created for herself. She lowers her gaze, opens her inviting mouth and the filthiest, unfiltered thoughts pour out. A red blooded male finds himself wondering what pick-up line might work, … Continue reading →