Category Archives: Reviews

It’s tempting — entirely TOO tempting — to write off “Shelter” as another exercise in an actress dressing down and uglying up. Beautiful women of the movies like to take a walk on the unkempt and homeless side, often just … Continue reading →

The less said about the flop “The Last Witch Hunter,” the better. But consider this. Would it have been made without Vin Diesel? And would Vin Diesel still have a career if the “Fast and Furious” franchise earned the sort … Continue reading →

“Trumbo” is a warm and witty profile in courage. It’s about the principled, prolific and unfairly punished screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, he of “The Hollywood Ten,” men persecuted for their beliefs during the Hollywood witch hunt that took place during the … Continue reading →

Sure, “Man Up” stars two of our favorite on-screen funny folk — Lake “In a World…” Bell and Simon “Shaun of the Dead” Pegg. But Bell, playing a lovelorn Brit, takes a while to settle into the character and the … Continue reading →

It was obvious from the product tie-ins, the clumsy way the studio promoted it and the early reviews that “Spectre” represented a pretty serious fall-off in the again-burgeoning James Bond franchise. Not fatal, just serious. It turns out the critical … Continue reading →

“The Armor of Light” is a documentary of faith, a film about a dramatic conversion. The Rev. Rob Schenck doesn’t find Jesus over the course of it. He’s been an evangelical preacher for decades and a mainstay in the modern … Continue reading →

“The Peanuts Movie” is the beneficiary of a year’s worth of lowered expectations. Hey, you mention “From the creators of ‘Ice Age’” and score the commercials and trailers with modern hip hopped pop, and share nary a joke…well, what’re we … Continue reading →

It’s all here. From the kite-eating tree to that football Lucy never lets him kick. “You blockhead!” and “Curse you, Red Baron!” to “Good grief.” “The Peanuts Movie” is “Peanuts Greatest Hits.” The little profundities — “It’s the courage to … Continue reading →

I got to know Fred Dalton Thompson when I worked at a newspaper in Tennessee — after the Watergate hearings and the movie “Marie,” where he played himself as a politician who helps a woman stand up to corruption — … Continue reading →

The first time I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., it was on a school day. And whole classes of teenagers filled the chilling exhibits — the halls of photos, prison clothes and uniforms, the railcar full of shoes, … Continue reading →