Search for Kyle

To sum up Alexander in three words, I would choose the following: three-hour miscalculation. Although some aspects of Oliver Stone's sword-and-sandals epic are worthy of mention (and even praise), they are dwarfed by the missteps and examples of b...

American Sniper lifts director Clint Eastwood out of the doldrums that have plagued his last few films. Loosely based on the life of decorated Iraq War veteran Chris Kyle, the movie not only represents the best effort from Eastwood since his Oscar-wi...

An indie film with a lot to say, Brigsby Bear can be accused of a lot of things, but lack of ambition isn’t among them. For his feature debut, Good Neighbor comedy troupe founder and SNL segment director Dave McCary has swung for the fences a...

Despicable Me 3 is an example of how even the most promising animated franchises can hit a wall if allowed to continue too long. One can understand why Universal greenlit this film. The previous two (or three if you count the spin-off Minions)...

I wish I could be more positive about Fanboys because I understand what the filmmakers are trying to do. Their goal is to provide a Valentine to fanboys and fangirls worldwide - all those who devote themselves to an element of pop culture and ofte...

Gran Torino is an amazingly over-the-top anti-racism parable but, despite its obvious shortcomings, it is nevertheless effective and affecting. The storytelling style is old fashioned in what it does and unsubtle in the way it goes about doing it,...

With the election of Barack Obama, we have apparently entered a kinder, gentler world in which films about racial harmony and goodwill to all men are becoming commonplace (at least during awards season). How else to explain the presence of both Th...

Machete Kills plays like a joke that's been told a few times too often. A lampoon of bad genre movies from the '60s and '70s with a '10s sensibility, the film is more like a collection of overcooked scenes than an actual narrative-based motion pict...

The Despicable Me duology, one of the best non-Pixar animated series to reach the silver screen in recent years, was successful with kids and adults for different reasons. Older viewers appreciated its tongue-in-cheek wit and satirical aspects. Child...

Director Kyle Balda has been with the Minions since their inception. He began working in the art department for Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, then moved to the (co-)director’s chair for Minions and Despicable Me 3. If nothing else, that assur...