Movies starring Alan Arkin

Director Kyle Balda has been with the Minions since their inception. He began working in the art department for Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, then moved to the (co-)director’s chair for Minions and Despicable Me 3. If nothing else, that assur...

Spenser Confidential is a perfect Netflix movie – a mid-budget action/thriller featuring a recognizable star and not requiring much in the way of attention or dedication from a viewer. It’s the kind of film people might not feel compelled ...

Dumbo is a perfectly adequate family film. While that may seem like damning with faint praise, keep in mind that this movie was never considered to be among Disney’s 2019 big guns. It fills a niche and does so nicely with a style and approac...

Just call it Grumpy Old Crooks. This quasi-remake of a 1979 caper film (which starred George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg) makes wholesale changes to the structure of its forebear – unfortunately few of them are for the better. An in...

Movies that arrive in theaters with the tagline "based on a true story" often stray far from the historical basis underlying the narrative. As it's said, "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." Unfortunately, in presenting the tale of...

Back in the 1980s, when Sylvester Stallone was at his peak and the Rocky movies were arriving at regular intervals, there was an ongoing joke that, 20 or 30 years from then, Stallone would be doing Rocky 15 with the pugilist using a walker to get a...

When I watch a comedy like The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, I find myself wondering whether plot and character development should be considered in an evaluation of the production. After all, the movie has been made with the intention of making peop...

Argo proudly bears the "based on a true story" label, and this is one occasion when the caption is important to how the movie is perceived. Often, this is a meaningless citation but, when documenting historical events such as the ones depicted here...

The Change-Up has designs of being the next big raunchy comedy of the Summer of 2011, following on the heels of Bridesmaids, The Hangover Part II, Bad Teacher, and Horrible Bosses. However, while there's sufficient profanity, sex, nudity, and excre...

There is something a little retro about the relaxing blend of screwball comedy and low-key drama that represents Raymond De Felitta's City Island. An indie of the sort that achieved popularity during the 1990s but which has since fallen out of fav...