Movies starring Chris

While Bed of Roses lacks the freshness of When Harry Met Sally and the smart sensuality of Before Sunrise, it nevertheless possesses enough intelligence and energy to lift it into the upper echelon of "traditional" modern romances. And, with so ma...

The press notes for Bee Movie indicate that Jerry Seinfeld came up with the title before he had an inkling what the story might be. Having seen the film, I can believe that. As befits something from Seinfeld's pen, the screenplay contains a smatter...

Beginners comes as close to presenting a first person perspective as a movie can without employing distracting gimmicks. Told from the point-of-view of the protagonist, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), the narrative follows not only his activities in the pr...

If the goal of Bel Ami was to capture a fleeting flavor of Dangerous Liaisons, the intention should be deemed a failure. Based on Guy de Maupassant's 1885 novel, Bel Ami is the meandering, unfocused tale of the rise of an unprincipled opportunist i...

Tim Burton's name is on the credits but Big Eyes doesn't feel at all like the visually eccentric, gothic-tinged productions we normally expect from the offbeat director. Oh, there are some "Burton-esque" moments, like a vacation in ...

Against all odds, The Big Short works. In fact, “works” is an understatement for what director Adam McKay has achieved with his improbable adaptation of Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book about the 2008 global financial crisis. Writing ...

Mike Nichols, the director of such well-received films as The Graduate and Working Girl, has taken the outrageous 1978 French farce, La Cage aux Folles, and, by tweaking, updating, and Americanizing it, come up with a huge winner. The Birdcage, as...

It’s hard to imagine that something as vapid and chaotic as Birds of Prey (full title: Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) transpires in the same “universe” (the DCEU) as Joker. With its John Wick-inspire...

Perhaps the best way to approach Black Bear is to watch it as two distinct short films (each a little under an hour in length) featuring the same primary trio of actors: Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon, and Christopher Abbott. Putting aside the “conne...

Black Snake Moan is designed to look and sound like a B-grade exploitation flick. It opens with a hot sex scene followed shortly thereafter by the sight of a girl writhing on the ground in apparent sexual frustration. Later, there's booze and blu...