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My concept of a "family film" is a movie that can be enjoyed by viewers of all ages: undiscriminating young children, teenagers with short attention spans, and adults with somewhat more refined standards. Unfortunately, too often Hollywood eq...

When Universal Pictures remade The Mummy in 1999, they wisely opted for a radically different tone, shifting from the atmospheric horror of the 1932 original to a Raiders of the Lost Ark-style adventure motif. Now, for the third major film to b...

What do Alistair Sim, Albert Finney, George C. Scott, Jim Carrey, Patrick Stewart, Bill Murray, and Michael Caine (among others) have in common? They have played the part of Ebenezer Scrooge in an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas C...

Since The Muppets first arrived in our homes during the mid-1970s with their iconic TV series, they've never gone away for more than a few years at a time. There have been some lean periods - the '00s come to mind - but, despite deaths in the fami...

The Muppets is a rare family film likely to appeal more to parents than to their offspring. Although it's true that most kids today know a thing or two about Jim Henson's creations (the movie's premise - that they have vanished into obscurity since...

The "1600" in the title, Murder at 1600, refers to a house number on Pennsylvania Avenue: the address of the White House. That makes this the third movie in three months (following Shadow Conspiracy and Absolute Power) to deal with high-level gov...

Like most Agatha Christie stories, Murder on the Orient Express is all about the “whodunnit?” Once that question has been answered, there’s little reason to revisit the story. Christie never cared much about character development and her ...

It is the unenviable lot of the film critic to endure a long string of so-called "romantic comedies", most of which are only marginally romantic, and not at all funny. So, when there's an exception to the rule, it's worth taking notice. Such is ...

To the extent that My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is about cross-cultural pollination, try this one out: instead of “Opa!”, how about “Oy Vey!” Yes, they’re back, and not because anyone was pining for their return. The “lovable” Portokal...

Beware Opening Night films at film festivals. More often than not, they disappoint. Such is the case with Christine Lahti's My First Mister, which was given the undisputed honor of opening the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. From audience members a...