A quasi-scandal had grabbed some attention this year, and it highlights the fine line that film festivals walk when balancing the desire to program creative, interesting movies with the need to generate as much publicity as possible. By veering a ...
It was good to see Roger Ebert in Toronto yesterday. For me, this festival has always been associated with Mr. Ebert. It was based on his advice that I first attended in 1997 (after receiving accreditation in part because of a letter of ...
Another ten days in September, another festival in the book. I'll offer some parting thoughts at the end of today's final update, but first there are three additional movies I want to offers comments upon.Flash of Genius is based on the real-life ...
If it's a Wednesday (my normal weekday blog entry day off), this ReelThoughts must have something to do with site processes or something of minimal general interest to movie-lovers. I don't like to "waste" my regular valuable columns for this less ...
I have been getting e-mails asking why I haven't written about certain topics and/or issues. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to discuss five things about which there will likely not be independent ReelThoughts entries. (The economy is not ...
An interesting e-mail showed up in my inbox the other day. It asked, in part: "Do you consider those who use ad blockers while reading your site to be stealing content?" On the surface, this may seem like a ridiculous suggestion, but I can assure ...
It's a sad week for movies. The only new release is One Missed Call. Not only is the film pretty bad, but it's generating almost no buzz. Will anyone other than the ten people who joined me this afternoon see it? I can't recommend it even to die-...
This is the last of the dead Fridays for theatrical releases. There are only two wide releases this week and one limited title expanding to everywhere. There are still a lot of movies out there from the pre-Christmas period that viewers have not ...
Call it the week of Cloverfield. Whatever else the movie may be (and it has sharply divided critics across-the-board), the is the first "must see" film of the year for males ages 11 through 40. If you're a member of that demographic and you don't ...
Seven days after the most robust weekend of the new year, the box office takes a step back for the final round of January debuts. Undoubtedly, Cloverfield and 27 Dresses will continue to make money. While it would be surprising to see either of ...
According to sources, the box office this January is up 18% over last January. No doubt, this makes the Suits in Hollywood very happy. Unfortunately, I suspect they may not be divining the right message from the increased dollar amounts. Their ...
Why, people are asking, did I see a movie starring Paris Hilton? The answer to that one is easy: I enjoyed her performance so much in her previous starring role that I was hoping for something of a similar nature. The Hottie & the Nottie won't be ...
This is the weekend of Iron Man. Anything else is pretty much inconsequential. This opening has been awaited for a long time by a wide variety of people. Web publishers who operate movie-related sites have been holding out for May 2 because ...
Jumper isn't the worst movie being released this weekend but it's not the best, either. That won't prevent it from taking the crown as Box Office Champion. This is the kind of movies that will attract teenage boys like flies to manure. The fact ...
This was supposed to be the weekend of Speed Racer - or at least that's how it looked a few months ago. May was supposed to be neatly compartmentalized. First weekend: Iron Man. Second weekend: Speed Racer. Third weekend: Prince Caspian. Fourth...
Fans of Larry the Cable Guy, this is your weekend! Witless Protection was not screened for critics and that's probably a good thing because it's not a movie I had an overwhelming desire to sit through. Sometimes the studios do critics a favor by ...
It's a wasteland out there. The tundra of the local multiplex is as barren as the surface of the moon. When I say that, I'm not referring specifically to the quality of new theatrical releases (although that's nothing to get excited about), but the ...