ReelViews for PG-13 movies

For every dozen-or-so teen-based dramas about white kids, there are maybe one or two similarly themed films about children of other races. So when one of the latter comes along that offers keenly observed characters involved in interesting situatio...

The title character's "mojo" isn't the only thing missing from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Also absent are the freshness and spontaneity that characterized the original. Those characteristics have been replaced by lame and obvious atte...

When Mike Myers and Jay Roach introduced the world to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in 1997, their intention was to make a one-off spoof of James Bond movies and '60s culture. The movie did okay at the box office, then exploded in po...

Through the years, there have been many big-screen attempts to satirize James Bond, from the terrible misfire Casino Royale to the recent, even-worse Spy Hard. In between, even the "official" Bond series got in on the act -- during the Roger Moore...

Australia is big and bold and brash - although one wouldn't expect less from director Baz Luhrmann, whose vocabulary doesn't include words like "restrained" and "low-key." A would-be epic on a grand, David Lean-inspired scale, Australia falls far ...

When MGM elected not to screen Autumn In New York for film critics, the decision touched off a minor controversy. First, stars Richard Gere and Winona Ryder spoke out publicly against this move, claiming it was an insult to the integrity of their ...

Screened in standard (non-IMAX) digital 3D. Avatar has been described as a "game-changer," and perhaps it is. I'll leave that for future historians to determine. What I can say with some assuredness is this is the most technically amazing motio...

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...