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Skyfall can take its place alongside From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the best Bond can offer. With an Oscar winner at the helm and Oscar winners in two prominent roles, Skyfall overflows with talent but, as...

Let's start out by not dwelling overmuch on the existence of Mirror Mirror. The basic story outline may be the same, but the similarities end there. Everything of importance is different: tone, intent, plot specifics, and so forth. Mirror Mirror is...

Sparkle is a remake; the original was released theatrically in 1976. I have never seen that version, but that didn't stem a powerful sense of déjà vu while sitting through this one. That's because Sparkle is an assembly of parts and pieces from o...

The original Taken, released in the United States in early 2009, was never intended to be anything more than a January throw-away. $145 million later, Fox had a different opinion of the French-made film, whose U.S. opening occurred months after it ...

Ted is essentially a one-joke movie. Okay, it's a very funny joke, but it's still only one joke. As a short, this could have been brilliant - hilarious, irreverent, and blisteringly satirical. I laughed a lot during the first half hour, not as much...

This is 40 has the feel of one of those French "family comedies" - sort of like the kind of thing brought to the screen by Cedric Klapisch, except with more profanity and vulgarity. There's not much in the way of a conventional narrative. This is 4...

Sometimes it's hard to recognize the importance of seemingly inconsequential element like "tone" when it comes to a romantic comedy. This Means War is a case study in what happens when the filmmakers mess this up. The movie is being marketed as an ...

Once upon a time, calling a movie "lesser Woody Allen" might be considered a slap in the face. Now, it's more-or-less expected. In the last decade, Allen has directed two good movies: Match Point and Midnight in Paris. Everything else has been med...