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Is this the future of blockbuster movies? Films made with more concern for the international box office than the domestic one, where the universal language is the clash of pixels? It’s no secret that, based exclusively on its U.S. receipts, ...

This is one sequel it’s a pleasure to review. Although not as fresh and lively as the first Paddington, the second feature based on the popular children’s book series by Michael Bond offers some of the best family entertainment outside an ...

With a title like Pain & Gain and Michael Bay at the helm, this review looked like a great opportunity for a vitriolic screed, but that's not going to happen. Defying expectations, Pain & Gain not only represents one of the best movies Bay has made...

Paper Towns is the third coming-of-age story to reach screens during the summer of 2015, following in the wake of the vastly superior Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Dope. Based on the novel by John Green, Paper Towns is an exercise in artifice. T...

Regardless of how it performs at the box office, this much is clear: Paranormal Activity 2 is a mistake. The clumsy and obvious byproduct of the financial success of its predecessor last Halloween, this movie has no reason for existing except to p...

Parker delivers just about what the average viewer would expect from it: a Jason Statham-flavored action thriller (as opposed to, say, a Matt Damon-flavored action thriller or a Rock-flavored action thriller). Statham, like John Wayne in his heyday...

What is the difference between a bad melodrama and a good one? The key lies in the emotional response. If the viewer feels that he or she is being forced into reacting in a particular way because of "button pushing," the film makers have erred. ...

When the collaboration of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen on a new production company was first announced, it became the talk of the entertainment world. Soon, deals were being signed, contracts inked, and films placed into ...

To think of uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and action director Michael Bay is to be reminded of popcorn-and-eye candy trifles like The Rock and Armageddon - movies where flashy special effects and lobotomized scripts are arguably assets. The pair...

Gene Siskel infamously gave Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure a zero-star review, stating “Obviously, Pee-Wee is tolerable only in Pee-Wee doses…” Although that seems unnecessarily harsh, especially in retrospect (now that the film is commonly viewe...