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The awkwardly-titled The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a classic example of a film that works better for children than adults. Seemingly made with the under-10 crowd in mind, the screenplay (credited to Eric Kripke, adapting the book by J...

To the extent that How Green Was My Valley is remembered, its reputation is rooted in infamy. At the 1942 Oscars, it overcame the competition to take home the Best Picture trophy. That competition included Citizen Kane, which has become widely ac...

The only holiday Hollywood is better at screwing up than Christmas is Valentine’s Day. Every year it seems that the movie industry is intent on making the Day of Love about as enjoyable as a root canal. 2016’s contribution is How to Be Si...

What would an after school special look like if it was made by the producers of Fear Factor? Although it's hard to say for sure, How to Eat Fried Worms provides a reasonable approximation. Despite being based on a popular children's book, the mot...

There's more to a quilt than fabric and thread -- each patchwork design has its own unique story (or stories) to tell. In How to Make an American Quilt, the first Hollywood release from Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof), we come to...

Now that Disney has joined Fox and Dreamworks in abandoning traditional animation for that of the 3-D computer generated variety, hand-drawn animation has become an endangered species (although, given the cyclical nature of this sort of thing, it wil...

Out of respect for the stunning visuals and family entertainment value of Disney's 34th animated feature, I can do no less than recommend The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Sadly, however, this is the least-enjoyable animated feature to come from th...

Have we reached a point where the term "young adult literature" has become pejorative? Have books like Twilight and its ilk promulgated a negative connotation? If Stephenie Meyer's scribblings represent an exhibition for the prosecution, perhaps Su...

Apologists will no doubt argue that bifurcating Suzanne Collins' final novel in The Hunger Games cycle, Mockingjay, is the right way to go. There's no doubt that stretching it over 4+ hours allows for a more complete adaptation, but movies are diff...

Another so-called YA (Young Adult) motion picture property has reached its cinematic conclusion. Billed as “the next big thing” 3 1/2 years ago with the release of the first Hunger Games movie, the series has lived up to its hype. The mov...