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Roger Ebert once said that, if done right, any topic could be the subject of a comedy. In that spirit, consider The Death of Stalin. From the title, one might assume that this is a serious look at a seminal event of 20th Century world history. ...

It has been noted that the film’s publicists are in a difficult position when it comes to marketing Kenneth Branagh’s second outing as famed detective Hercule Poirot, Death on the Nile. Since the pre-pandemic production completed filming, no f...

Whether by coincidence or design, the three week period from August 20 through September 10 has been dominated over the last five years by Jason Statham. In 2004, there was Cellular. In 2005, there was Transporter 2. The 2006 entry was Crank, fo...

Fans of Death Race 2000 (they comprise a small but loyal group) argue that the movie’s strength lies not in its action but its political commentary. Although it would be fair to say that the film has allegorical elements related to a dystopi...

Death Sentence is Death Wish for the 2000s. However, in place of the slow-burn intensity of Charles Bronson, we have the guilt-riddled stylings of Kevin Bacon. It's easy enough to guess at what director James Wan was trying for with Death Sentenc...

It’s fair to ask what new things Eli Roth and Bruce Willis bring to Death Wish that the original, made in 1974 with Charles Bronson, didn’t have. The answer is: not many. Rather than using this as an opportunity to provide a deeper dive in...

Perhaps the most complimentary thing that can be said about Barney Elliott’s directorial debut, The Debt, is that it has the best of intentions. Unfortunately, a worthy message doesn’t necessarily equate to a good movie and, in this case, ...

Watching The Debt, I was reminded of how entertaining a well-executed Cold War thriller can be. Although elements of this movie, based on the 2007 Israeli film Ha-Hov, have a kinship to Steven Spielberg's Munich, the overall thrust is more in line ...

To succeed, Deception requires viewers to be both inattentive and stupid. There's not a twist in this flimsy and moth-eaten plot that isn't both contrived and transparent and not a character who hasn't been hopelessly manipulated by the needs of th...

Christmas movies like this are enough to turn one into a Grinch or at least make one wish that the filmmakers would get a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future. Why it is so hard to make a decent Christmas comedy? Not every movie has to be on ...