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Feature film biographies like Jackie inhabit difficult terrain. They are servants to two masters: the historical record and the needs of artistry. From time-to-time, a great one like Patton or Lincoln comes along but most are run-of-the-mill affairs ...

Fourteen years after the release of The Bourne Identity, the Bourne movies have deviated so drastically from Robert Ludlum’s source novels that, like James Bond, the film character exists separately from his written inspiration. Over the course...

Films based on historical events come in all shades and colors. On one end of the spectrum are those like Gettysburg, with a meticulous attention to detail and adherence to the written record. Then there are movies like The Journey, which use...

The process of transforming beloved animated classics into live-action versions has become a modern cottage industry. This self-cannibalization has included titles like Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and now The Jungle Book (with Beauty and...

Keeping up with the Joneses (not to be confused with the better 2010 film The Joneses) is a paint-by-numbers, creatively bankrupt “comedy” emerging from a studio system that has largely forgotten what it means to be genuinely funny. Lazil...

Are you a Kevin Hart fan?  Then drop everything and rush to see this movie. Are you not a Kevin Hart fan? Then move along, there’s nothing here to see… When it comes to theatrically distributed recordings of comedy concerts, Eddi...

It has often perplexed me why there have been relatively few fantasy adventure animated films. With their mix of monsters, magic, and heroism, they would seem to be an ideal fit to captivate the imaginations of children and adults alike. Putting asid...

Kung Fu Panda 3 falls on the kids-only end of the family movie spectrum. Unlike the best animated films, Kung Fu Panda 3 is content to appeal primarily to younger viewers, offering little of substance for the parents who accompany them to theaters. I...

La La Land, Damien Chazelle’s much-anticipated follow-up to his stunning 2014 feature debut, Whiplash, illustrates the magic that can result when a director is fully committed to a vision. Chazelle doesn’t just want to tell a story (altho...

In 2016, one wonders whether there’s a place in cinema for the 104-year old Tarzan. To make the character more relevant to a modern audience, screenwriters Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer, along with director David Yates (who helmed the final four ...