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Do you miss Saturday morning cartoons? Depending on how old you are, the answer is likely to be yes. I remember, growing up, sitting in front of the television on Saturday mornings. Inevitably whatever channel I turned to would hold some kind of animated cartoony goodness. This animated bliss would last for hours. These days, [...]

I originally saw this film on an inferior DVD release under the title of Shaolin Master Killer. While that title may fit, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is much more appropriate. Whatever title you see it under, there is no denying that this is in the upper echelon of best martial arts films of all [...]

Asia has churned out some very good horror films over the past decade. Breathing life into the genre, they brought new vision and new approaches to the making of horror films. Of course the first ones to cross the pond were the good ones, films like The Ring, The Eye, Dark Water and The Grudge, [...]

If ever a director was so perfectly suited for the material at hand, it is the combination of Michael Bay and Transformers. On one hand, Bay can blow stuff up better than anybody, and what is one element you want in a movie featuring battling robots but big explosions? On the other hand, you have [...]

I really wanted to like this movie. A focused Robin Williams is a force to be reckoned with, John Krasinski is an up and coming star, and Mandy Moore is perfect in these light romantic comedy roles. The stars were there. Unfortunately, try as I did, I could not truly like this fitfully entertaining movie. [...]

When I heard that a Nancy Drew movie was being made, I had envisioned something along the lines of Veronica Mars on the big screen. Of course, I knew that it wouldn’t be anything like that, but the Kristen Bell character is similar to how I think a new version of Nancy Drew would be [...]

An interesting, if not completely successful unlikely romantic comedy, You Kill Me offers up some decent dry laughs in a movie that stretches the ludicrous plot line to the breaking point. It seems like another story within the Matador universe, where hitmen are drunks, meet and make friends with the most unlikely of people, and find a way to keep doing what they’re doing.

I cannot claim to be a big fan of Michael Moore, not can I claim any great knowledge of the subjects he goes after. Not to say I am completely ignorant, but let us just say that it is not my strong suit. If nothing else, Moore makes entertaining pieces of docu-propaganda that work well [...]

A movie based on a story is always a questionable affair. More often than not, the movie is an underwhelming experience (Dreamcatcher, Lawnmower Man, Sleepwalkers). He has his good adaptations as well (The Shining, Carrie, Misery). So, it was definitely going to be a toss up how this was going to turn. It does have [...]

It is that time of year again, you know, when Pixar unleashes their latest creation upon an unsuspecting public. It is the time of year when some speculators begin to wonder if this will be the first failure to come from the animation house that can seemingly do now wrong, or if this will be [...]

Awful title aside (I prefer the working title of Die Hard 4.0), this fourth installment of the McClane saga actually delivers some hard hitting action. You can count me as one of those that was worried about a Die Hard movie saddled with a PG-13 rating, and for those interviews where Willis said they shot the script and aimed for an R, only to get a PG-13? I do not buy that for a second. There were plenty of opportunities where this could have been made a hard R, but that was not the route they took. It doesn’t matter, in the end, this is a solid explosive summer action movie that does not suffer from the lack of blood and language, it is nore than made up for in the explosive action and with Bruce back in the driver seat of the character that made him a movie star.

A Mighty Heart is a tough movie to go into. We know how this story ends, since everyone that is going into this movie knows how it is going to end the filmmakers need to rely on something other than plot. The story has to be elevated somehow, the emotional quotient has to be amped up, and the performances have to carry all of the dramatic weight to make the movie have some sort of substance.

In 2006, director Neil Marshall made his debut on the big screen in the U.S. with the supremely scary The Descent. Now, if you have not seen that film, do yourself a favor, go rent it, buy it, whatever, just treat yourself to a horror film that has genuine scares and chills. Neil Marshall’s story [...]

Speck is a movie that is interesting in how equally good and awful it is. When you watch this film, you know how bad it is, but no matter what you do, you can’t look away. Well, I couldn’t… but I’m probably in the minority in that respect.
Speck is another one of those “based on [...]

As I left the theater, I could not help but wonder what this film might have been like if the script was more focused or if the story was actually substantive. I felt that The Last Mimzy tries too hard to be some sort of ET-style message movie. The tone is all over the place, [...]

The Painted Veil is one of those movies that I was interested in, but never really felt like making the time to go see it. Even now, with the DVD in hand, I approached the viewing as if it were a chore. You know those types, the movies that seem interesting on paper, or have [...]

Four years ago, God appeared to Bruce Nolan, gave him almighty power and took a vacation. The movie centered on showing how tough it is to run the world and give Bruce a little perspective on his own life. In that film we also met Evan Baxter, played by Steve Carell, a co-worker and rival [...]

Forged from the remains of the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter franchises DOA was born. It is a series of fighting games, the is known as much for its fighting as it is for the over-enhanced, gravity defying female characters than for any story that is in desperate need of being told. The girls of DOA were so popular that it spawned another game, one centering on the bikini clad fighters leaving the fighting arenas and heading to the beach for a round or two of bouncy volleyball.

Two years ago, movie audiences were introduced to the adventures of the Fantastic Four. That film was moderately entertaining, though it had serious flaws which prevented it from coming anywhere near the quality of the X-Men or Spider-Man franchises. However, while it made story, character, and casting missteps, it was not nearly as bad as [...]

The latest Soderbergh and friends outing has arrived on the big screen, and while it is overall a fun experience, I cannot call it a great movie. Calling it merely “good” would be much more accurate. It is a definite step up from its predecessor, but does not climb as high as the original remake. [...]

July 14, 1966, Richard Speck entered a nurses dorm in Chicago. Once inside, he proceeded to torture, rape, and murder 8 young women in one of the bloodiest murders in history. Chicago Massacre is the second film I have watched in the past week to focus on this despicable excuse for a human being, the [...]

Let me start this with a question, has anyone who has seen this movie actually thought it was funny? I was not expecting anything that great, heck, I wasn’t even expecting it to be good. All I really hoped for was that it provided at least a couple of chuckles, I mean even Larry the [...]

Originally slated for release in January, the studio thought that it would fare better in the summer heat. So, here we are, June is here and Eli Roth’s torture film has arrived on the big screen, sure to be a prime target of critics everywhere. I was all set to go in and hate the movie, or at least dislike it.

am sure all of you have had that experience at one time or another. You go into a movie, you recognize it as being pretty bad, but you find yourself enjoying every moment. Usually, they are the kind of movies that you find on late at night on some random cable station. You watch it and are amazed that you are smiling at it, enjoying every odd minute of it.

From the moment I first saw a trailer for Knocked Up, I knew it was going to be one to watch. Frankly, I thought it looked hilarious, plus I am becoming a big fan of Judd Apatow’s work, and have been looking forward to his follow up to the very funny 40 Year Old Virgin. There was definitely going to be some sort of comparison to his earlier film, and I am happy to say that this surpasses the Steve Carrell vehicle.

In July Fox Searchlight is set to release Joshua, a creepy psychological horror film from director George Ratliff. When I first saw the trailer, two things crept through my brain: first I was completely creeped out, and second, I could not help but be reminded of The Omen, and the creepy son of the devil in that creepy tale.

Long before Jackie Chan teamed with Owen Wilson to bring the Far East to the Old West in Shanghai Noon, and even before Jet Li brought the East to the West in Once Upon a Time in China and America, actor/director Sammo Hung brought the two together within the Chinese confines with Shanghai Express, originally [...]

This is a movie that will put a smile on your face and a grumble in your tummy. Waitress is a sweet film that moves at a poetic pace through the dramatic comedy landscape. If you are looking for a movie that is upbeat and positive and bright without the cynicism that can creep into modern comedy, not to mention steering away from the popular improvised comedy that can be found in Will Ferrell style comedies, this is the movie for you.

It was almost a year ago since we last saw a drunken, wise cracking Captain Jack Sparrow on the big screen. When we last saw him, he had been betrayed, somewhat, by Elizabeth Swann, who had left him as a diversion to the Kraken, who was after the good Captain. This was followed by Swann, [...]

Do you ever get the feeling that you are the only person in the theater that is enjoying what is on the screen? That was how I felt watching Bug. I was drawn into this twisted tale of two fractured people who feed each others paranoia fueled delusions in an endless feedback loop of fear and love. While I was becoming involved in what was happening between them, there were people snickering, and oft times outright laughing.