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In my review of Divergent, the opening installment of the four-movie series of which Insurgent is the second part, I wrote the following: "As an entry point into a new world, Divergent provides a worthwhile portal. This is the kind of reality an...

Introducing the Dwights is a coming of age story that (thankfully) doesn't play coy with issues of sexuality. The film, from Australian director Cherie Nowlan, doesn't always move smoothly (it has a tendency to jump around a little, especially in ...

One corner of the genre of sports clichés is devoted to true stories of overachieving underdogs. In recent years, Disney has repeatedly raided this area, creating one inspiring story after another, most of which (like Remember the Titans and The R...

Iron Man is a different breed of superhero movie - a film that remembers it's possible to be outside the target demographic and still enjoy a tale set in this genre. What makes Iron Man interesting isn't the storyline which, except for a few wrink...

Is This Thing On? is a good old-fashioned character study: a slice-of-life drama about a man who rediscovers himself after having fallen into a lifeless rut. It's the kind of thing that most people can relate to on some level, and director Bradley...

Jeff, Who Lives at Home is the second mainstream offering from mumblecore* directors Jay & Mark Duplass. The brothers took their first stab at reaching a broader audience with 2010's Cyrus, an affecting drama that demonstrated Jonah Hill's ability ...

With its derivative story elements, epic scope, and straightforward action orientation, John Carter is a throwback to a simpler time when it was enough to have a heroic protagonist face off against all manner of monsters and bad guys. The special e...

Journey to the Center of the Earth is the first live-action feature to take advantage of the new digital 3-D technology. However, in generating what amounts to a 90-minute theme park ride, the filmmakers lost track of the need to tell a compelling...

To what extent has the narrative surrounding the Black Panthers been developed by government and law enforcement agencies whose impartiality has been, to put it mildly, suspect? Although it’s beyond question that the Panthers weren’t compr...

With Just Like Heaven, director Mark Waters (Mean Girls) wants to have his cake and eat it to. That's not necessarily a bad thing, until you consider that the recipe used for this confection is missing a few ingredients and the final product is ha...