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Spoilers follow, although those who have read the book won’t be bothered by them. Although The Girl on the Train is a serviceable thriller, it’s hard not to see it as something of a disappointment. As a B-movie whodunnit designed for f...

I have made my peace with an unsavory truth: the Hollywood of today is going to continue crafting live-action remakes of the animated films of yesteryear until they run out of material. Why? Because audiences like them – more often than not, the...

It's an axiom of the filmmaking industry that any time an animated movie shows a profit, it instantly becomes the foundation for a franchise. Unfortunately, when money drives creative decisions, it's like the cart pulling the horse. Take away the f...

The third (and likely final) installment of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, The Hidden World, continues a trend that started with the previous film: muting adult-friendly content in favor of material with a greater appeal to kids. Althoug...

I have occasionally wondered what Showgirls might be like if it was made by a female director. Perhaps Hustlers offers a glimpse of the tantalizing possibility. Existing close to the nexus of the oft-derided Paul Verhoeven film and Martin Scor...

Never trust a serious drama that uses a line from a Dr. Seuss book as its title. I Am Sam (inspired by a line from "Green Eggs and Ham"), despite boasting interesting character relationships, stumbles and falls because of a storyline that consiste...

In the Company of Men is one of those rarest of rare breeds -- a movie that doesn't just ignore Hollywood conventions, but openly flouts them. The film, which premiered to great critical acclaim at 1997's Sundance Film Festival, initially had trou...

In the Name of the King is a second-rate regurgitation of The Lord of the Rings. Everything about it, down to the set and costume design, apes Peter Jackson's epic trilogy. However, while The Lord of the Rings was a grand story of scope and power,...

In an era when movies are again turning to classic literature for inspiration, it was only a matter of time before a new version of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre reached the screen. One of the best-loved of all the Victorian novels, Jane Eyre combi...