Movies with music written by Theodore Shapiro

The focal point of one of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival's more serious bidding wars was this year's co-winner of the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic Competition) and sole winner of the Directing Award (Dramatic Competition), Girlfight. At one point, ...

Since the death of Alfred Hitchcock, many filmmakers have vied to succeed the Master of Suspense. With apologies to rip-off artist Brian De Palma, my vote goes to David Mamet, whose films House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner can stand alongside ...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

The Devil Wears Prada is two films in one: a caustic, energetic satire of the fashion world and a cautionary melodrama. The first works; the second doesn't. Fortunately, the running time of the former doubles that of the latter, making The Devil ...

Just when it was starting to look like the concept of a "funny comedy" has gone out of vogue, along comes Pineapple Express and its cinematic cousin, Tropic Thunder. The latter film, which has emerged from the warped mind of Ben Stiller, is a litt...

There's something irresistible about a displaced consciousness story, whether it's an adult occupying the body of a child, a child occupying the body of an adult, or a gender switch. 13 Going on 30 belongs to the same sub-genre as Big, although ma...