ReelViews for PG-13 movies

The majority of this review is taken from what I wrote in 2009. I have tweaked and edited it to update it for 2022. Following the main review are a few new comments written following my re-watching of the film on September 23, 2022.Avatar has been d...

It’s finally here. After years of missed release dates related to postproduction issues, James Cameron’s oft-delayed sequel to 2009’s Avatar has finally arrived. Was it worth the 13-year wait? Unquestionably. It’s difficult to overstate ho...

The Avengers kicks ass. It's a loud, brash spectacle that blows up as many things as a Transformers outing but without the same grinding sense of soulless robotic monotony. For years, Marvel has been building to this movie, painstakingly introducin...

It is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, the behemoth before which every other would-be blockbuster during the summer of 2015 must bow. Yet, perhaps because the filmmakers subconsciously recognized this and didn't feel the pressure to excel, the ...

Minimal spoilers. There are some references to things that happen and the usual discussion about plot elements available via trailers and pre-release clips, but I have tried to remain as “spoiler-lite” as possible. As always, however, if y...

Minimal spoilers. There are some vague references to things that happen and the usual discussion about plot elements available via trailers and pre-release clips, but I have tried to remain as “spoiler-lite” as possible. As always, however...

Sometimes movies don't have to be complicated. They don't have to "say" anything or espouse a particular philosophy. There doesn't have to be a deeper meaning beyond exploring slices in the lives of several unpretentious characters. Such is the c...

Had Martin Scorsese made this film 25 years ago, it would have been greeted with a surge of curiosity. Howard Hughes, one of the richest eccentrics of the 20th century, was still fresh in the public's mind at that time. Now, more than a quarter c...

It has been said that Alzheimer's is the only "major" terminal condition to exact a greater toll on the family than the victim. Compared to cancer (for example), Alzheimer's offers a relatively gentle journey into oblivion for the patient, a gradu...

It has become a time-honored tradition that stars of Saturday Night Live, upon graduating from the no-longer-funny late night show, elect to spread their wings and strive for cinematic greatness. With a few notable exceptions, most have crashed an...