It’s been a while since Adam Sandler actually produced or starred in anything of cinematic value. Pixels actually comes close. It has ambition; it wants to become the Ghostbusters of the arcade video game era. With a stronger script and less rambling […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
Terminator: Genisys (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
I love the Terminator. Not the cyborg so much, but the first, low-budget film in 1984, co-written and directed by James Cameron. It’s as close to a perfect little movie as one can get, astonishing in its execution. Most people […]
Continue reading »Mr. Holmes (2015) ☆ ☆ 1/2
There have been many successful stand-alone films about Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle (as opposed to the famous series with Basil Rathbone), and now Ian McKellen is playing Holmes as a real person, years after […]
Continue reading »Self/Less (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆
I appreciate when a “high-concept” science-fiction thriller or action movie boasts enough ambition to address large questions; that’s much of what makes the genre my all-time favorite. Self/Less questions mankind’s quest for immortality, wondering whether sacrifices made to gain immortality are […]
Continue reading »Max (2015) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Sometimes the idea behind a movie is better than the resulting movie. Probably often, I would think. The idea behind Max is to salute the working dogs of the U.S. military (and their human handlers) with the honor of a feature […]
Continue reading »Inside Out (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆
Pixar Studios is consistently the most innovative and original animation studio in Hollywood, and I hope they stay that way forever. That being said, however, I’ve lost some of the tight connection I had with the studio through their early […]
Continue reading »Love and Mercy (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆
This is a somewhat difficult movie for me. I’m a fan of the Beach Boys — they were my first concert experience back in 1977 at the old Chicago Stadium — yet I knew very little about Brian Wilson’s psychological […]
Continue reading »Jurassic World (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Wow. After two lackluster sequels, the “Jurassic Park” franchise has been re-energized with an installment that is as exciting and inventive as the original. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is as good, mainly […]
Continue reading »Spy (2015) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy are trying to corner the market on bawdy female humor movies. They’ve already made Bridesmaids and The Heat, and now they’re back with Spy, which is a semi-comic, potty-mouthed, fairly bloody spoof of James […]
Continue reading »Entourage (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆
I have never seen anything from the HBO series “Entourage.” Not one minute. I’ve known of it, of course, but I had not been exposed to any of it. Part of that was due to the casting of Adrian Grenier […]
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