Movies with music written by Theodore Shapiro

When it comes to simple favors, the last thing that we need is another one. It would have been different if the first film, 2018’s A Simple Favor, had been deserving of a sequel rather than being just another failed comedy/thriller that only a fe...

Presumably because of his mammoth success helming the trilogy of Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, writer/director Jon Watts achieved sufficient clout to attract A-listers (and good friends) George Clooney and Brad Pitt to star in Wolfs. With such a ...

2016’s Trolls, an animated confection based on the toy line, was a pleasant surprise, both in terms of its appeal and its box office prowess. The latter (as much as the former) determined that there would be a sequel. At one point, distribut...

All animated films are not created equal. Some aspire for greatness, seeking to bring wonders to the screen that live-action can’t fully capture. Others exist for purely commercial means – cynical brand-management put together not to touch...

As a dramatic re-creation of the events leading up to the July 2016 ouster of Fox News honcho Roger Ailes, Bombshell is effective cinema. However, for those familiar with the situation (either from reading about it or following it contemporane...

If Richard Curtis watches Last Christmas, he will likely do so with a smile on his face. In approach, tone, and intent, this is very much like the kind of film Curtis makes and bears more than a passing resemblance to his unlikely now-classic ...

Destroyer could earn Nicole Kidman some consideration for an Oscar nomination and the gritty neo-noir storyline about obsession, guilt, and betrayal is worthwhile for those who appreciate the genre, but the movie seems destined to be lost in t...

There’s a trick to doing a psychological thriller right. Hitchcock understood it. So did Chabrol and the Coens. Paul Feig, however, needs to brush up a little more on his technique. Tone is one of the biggest problems with A Simple Favor, a...

Captain Underpants (or, to use the full, far-too-long title, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie) gets the summer’s animated roster off to a low-key start. The first of four high profile big-screen cartoons to grace theaters over the n...

In a curious way, Snatched is a little like an Amy Schumer stand-up routine: sometimes edgy, occasionally hilarious, and lessened by the bits that fall flat. Unlike Trainwreck, which featured strong writing and an opportunity for Schumer to di...