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One of the great action movie staples is the story of a grim survivor bonding with and becoming the protector of a child. This adoptive parent/child relationship, if handled with a degree of finesse, can add a layer of depth to high-caliber set pi...

Shine is a deceptively simple title for an amazingly powerful motion picture. Based on the life story of Australian pianist David Helfgott, director Scott Hicks' (Sebastian and the Sparrow) film touches on themes as diverse as the nature of genius...

In 1990, the MPAA introduced the NC-17 rating to provide an outlet for legitimate adult fare -- non-pornographic motion pictures with content deemed too strong for the under-17 crowd. The first movie released with an NC-17 was Henry and June...

A certain amount of credit must be given to the filmmaking team behind Shrek 2 for overcoming a seemingly insurmountable obstacle and producing an entertaining motion picture. That obstacle is the ending of the original Shrek, which neatly wrapped...

To say that The Signal has major tone problems is to understate the problem. While it's possible for a movie to function simultaneously as a horror movie and a parody of the genre, it's not the easiest trick to pull off and first-time feature dire...

The Signal ends up as a completely different movie than it is at the start. This pretty much guarantees that, although the astute viewer might intuit some of the twists and turns, at least some surprises will remain. In fact, although the movie pro...

Silver Linings Playbook is a quirky adult romantic comedy that goes beyond the standard rhythms of the genre. Although this is a funny movie, there's an edge to the humor, not unlike what we have become accustomed to in the work of Alexander Payne....

When it comes to The Simpsons, longevity is an asset few can ignore. 18 years old and counting, the TV series has carved its niche into pop culture. Most of today's high school students hadn't been born when The Simpsons debuted as filler on Trac...

A Single Man, the directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, almost succeeds on the strength of Colin Firth's performance. Unfortunately, the actor is too often upstaged by Ford's visual sensibilities. Rarely has hue - both in its absence and...

The Sitter fits neatly into the mediocre, generic comedy category - a classification reserved for films that are neither funny enough nor raunchy enough nor smart enough to do more than consume time and dull the senses. One could argue that these a...