Search for Mand

Understanding British humor can be a vexing experience for some American viewers. Although the two countries share a common language, comedy doesn’t necessarily translate across the ocean. Absolutely Fabulous, a hugely popular TV hit in England...

Australia is big and bold and brash - although one wouldn't expect less from director Baz Luhrmann, whose vocabulary doesn't include words like "restrained" and "low-key." A would-be epic on a grand, David Lean-inspired scale, Australia falls far ...

The build-up for Avatar: Fire and Ash wasn’t quite as intense as the one between the original Avatar and its first sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, due in large part to the shorter span between releases (three years versus thirteen). As was true...

It’s finally here. After years of missed release dates related to postproduction issues, James Cameron’s oft-delayed sequel to 2009’s Avatar has finally arrived. Was it worth the 13-year wait? Unquestionably. It’s difficult to overstate ho...

Beastly is Beauty and the Beast for the Twilight generation. Featuring a cast top-heavy with TV actors and a screenplay that could have been given an assist by Stephanie Meyer, the end result would have ended up on the ABC Family Channel if it had ...

Being There, Hal Ashby’s 1979 adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s novel, is a delightfully dark comedy that, despite a cynical bent, offers viewers a good time. At the heart of Being There’s popularity is a recognition that even the most simp...

Birdman (subtitled Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is an ensemble film about theater life that occasionally takes time away from its dramatic/comedic narrative to skewer the pop culture sensibilities that have given rise to the so-called "mo...

There is an almost overpowering desire to write this review in the style of Dr. Seuss, but I will resist it - primarily because the end product is more Mike Myers and overblown production design than it is the clever text of one of the most beloved...

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not only a solid dystopian-flavored science fiction film in its own right but it elevates the stock of its immediate predecessor in the Planet of the Apes franchise, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. By adding to th...

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. ...