Search for 2015

Furious Seven provides what viewers have come to expect from the long-running The Fast and the Furious series: a string of high-octane, physics-defying action scenes loosely connected by a narrative that occasionally makes rudimentary sense. This tim...

Get Hard is a Will Ferrell movie that comes with all the strengths and weaknesses implied by the designation. Although the marketing campaign plays up the Ferrell/Kevin Hart "buddy" angle, the film skews more toward Ferrell's hit-and-mi...

The Gift, a psychological thriller from writer/director/actor Joel Edgerton, subverts the Fatal Attraction genre by sprinkling it with a little Usual Suspects flavoring. Clever and atmospheric, the film has enough twists to keep the average viewer gu...

It's difficult to make a movie about bullying without resembling an Afterschool Special. To her credit, writer/director Amy S. Weber avoids this hurdle. A Girl Like Her unfolds with a clear-eyed approach to the subject - a drama that fleshes out ...

The Good Dinosaur, although an adequate family film, lacks qualities that have made many of Pixar’s previous productions classics. Less a major animated effort than a late-autumn “filler”, the movie offers enough to enthrall childre...

When the usage of drones (officially "unmanned combat aerial vehicles") for bombing and surveillance entered the national conversation during the latter years of the last century, the general reaction was positive. The argument was that, by...

At a guess, I'd say that Goosebumps will satisfy its core audience - fans of R.L. Stine's popular children's books - and bore pretty much everyone else. The film, which captures the feel if not the full charm of the written stories, comes...

If I was in the mood for an over-the-hill action hero, I think I'd go with Schwarzenegger. Or maybe Stallone. Or even Liam Neeson. I definitely wouldn't pick Sean Penn. Granted, the two-time Oscar winner has an impressive resume, but he's...

The credits for The Hateful Eight proudly proclaim this to be the “Eighth Film” from writer/director Quentin Tarantino. Since catching the movie world unawares with his powerhouse debut, Reservoir Dogs, some 23 years ago, he has worked on...

Hitman: Agent 47 is an adaptation of a popular video game. It's also a reboot of a 2007 film. One might reasonably ask what this production does that wasn't accomplished in either of its other incarnations. The answer is: nothing. But that...