Search for 2015

Spotlight is a Valentine to investigative journalism and a stark reminder of where we’re headed now that this brand of writing has become an endangered species. The film is unique in that it focuses almost entirely on the process. The character...

Summer is the season of bloat and the trait is evident in Spy's excessive running length. At about 90 minutes, this would have been a fresh, breezy action-comedy. However, with an additional half-hour of padding, viewers are forced to endure stre...

It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to label Star Wars as one of the biggest cultural influences of the last half-century. The 1977 release of A New Hope had a seismic impact on the film industry and the ripples expanded far and wide. For 36 years...

When considering Steve Jobs, the first thing to recognize is that this isn’t a bio-pic. Oh, the movie uses Jobs’ life as the basis of its story and cherry-picks facts and reminiscences to form the skeleton. But screenwriter Aaron Sorkin a...

Director Sarah Gavron and writer Abi Morgan deserve props for bringing to the screen the oft-neglected story of women's suffrage in the U.K. as well as illustrating what life was like during a time prior to the advent of women's rights. Suffr...

Taken 3 is exactly what one might anticipate from an unnecessary sequel in a mediocre franchise. Even those desperate for a Liam Neeson action fix may be disappointed. The film, directed like its immediate predecessor by Luc Besson disciple Olivier M...

The original Ted was an engagingly ribald comedy that worked in large part because the gimmick was fresh. After all, Teddy Bears, even on those rare occasions when they talk, don't normally curse, smoke weed, and engage in sexual pantomime. At th...

He's back. After not appearing in a Terminator film for 12 years, Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to one of the roles that made him the biggest action star of the '80s and early '90s. Will anyone care? This is the seventh film Schwa...

Tomorrowland is an interesting collage of moments and ideas in search of a strong narrative and a coherent ending. For a while, it doesn't matter that the plot meanders. The story seems like a jigsaw puzzle inviting us to solve it. That's the...