Search for Based

Let me start out this review by asserting that those who consider themselves die-hard fans of the stage musical Wicked, upon which this movie is based, will almost certainly love what director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) has deli...

When attempting what is often deemed the most unnecessary of cinematic projects, the remake, a filmmaker can adopt a nearly identical plot but still generate an inferior product. Such is the case with Neil LaBute and The Wicker Man. LaBute isn't ...

Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson) is a career criminal – a thief so meticulous that he has operated for thirty years without being caught. He plans each job ahead, writing all the details in a notebook, and leaves nothing to chance. But fate catc...

Watching The Wife, I was reminded of how movies used to be. Back in the 1990s, something like this would have been common: an engaging story anchored by two powerful performances. Glenn Close is as good as she has ever been (although I would p...

This is Reese Witherspoon's big Oscar push and the strength of her performance - easily the most forceful and memorable aspect of an otherwise unremarkable motion picture - may well earn her a nomination. Witherspoon certainly goes all-out, doing...

Violence comes in many shapes, sizes, and forms. Twenty-six years ago, when Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch was first released, it caused a stir because of its gritty, uncompromising style. The deaths in this film are neither sterile nor heroic. W...

Perhaps the best thing about The Wild Robot is that it rarely feels like a Hollywood-produced animated film. It’s more Miyazaki than Disney. Although seemingly simple, it explores concepts like perceiving “kindness as a survival skill” and h...

There have been two major waves of fantasy movies. The latest (and most would argue, the most successful) began in the late 1990s with the releases of The Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The earlier one occur...

Released during the summer of 1971, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was envisioned as a transformation of Roald Dahl’s twisted fable of gluttony and greed into a family-friendly musical. Inspired by The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka sought ...

At first glance, The Winslow Boy might seem like an improbable choice for David Mamet's sixth directorial effort. Adapted from the play by Terence Rattigan (which has already been filmed once, in 1948 by Anthony Asquith), The Winslow Boy is set in...