Category Archives: Reviews

Satire, parody, racist skewerings of racism, sacred cows slaughtered, silly slides down the slippery slope into Anti-Semitism. And breasts. Lots and lots of breasts! That was National Lampoon in its heyday, an R-Rated Mad Magazine, a pervier Playboy (all in … Continue reading →

The “Maze Runner” sequel, “The Scorch Trials,” starts at a sprint and hurtles at us for a good long, stretch, before it stops to catch its breath. The conspiracy grows deeper even as the mystery unravels. The chases, brawls and … Continue reading →

This is what filmed spectacle used to look like — a  trip to a place or time most of us could never see, high drama built on the fissures of human nature, where the menaces come from our flaws, our … Continue reading →

Can Johnny Depp still surprise us? After all these years, all those earrings, all that “Yo ho ho,” can he still deliver, as an actor? The answer that “Black Mass” gives us is “Yes.” As Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger,” … Continue reading →

Americans with any pop culture mileage at all remember the story of a chess player winning the Cold War. It’s right up there with a hockey team winning the Cold War, and Olympic officials and a basketball team losing it … Continue reading →

The first hit film of the fall is an utterly generic, totally predictable stalker thriller aimed at an African American audience. Sanaa Lathan is the super-successful lobbyist Leah, parking her Caddy in front of her designer house, stepping out in … Continue reading →

The young Walt Disney’s struggles to start his career in animation seems like promising fodder for a bio pic. Seeing the young man fail and fail again at something his father disapproved of, fight his personal demons, meet and team … Continue reading →

Gambling’s allure as drama isn’t hard to dissect. It’s a lifestyle few of us would have the nerve to attempt, a world of smoky, dimly-lit casinos, back-rooms and bars — crippling hours, crumbling priorities and all manner of bad habits … Continue reading →

M. Night Shyamalan hated being called a one-trick-pony, so he took on “Last Airbender,” “The Happening” and “After Earth.” And proved he has just that one trick. So he turns back to the formula that made him famous with “The … Continue reading →

First Principle. No Jason Statham? No “Transporter.” Sure, Clive Owen managed a fair impersonation of one in those BMW commercials (short movies) that came out shortly after Statham and Luc Besson’s Man-of-Few-Words getaway driver in France film opened. But could … Continue reading →