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There are a variety of ways one can evaluate the effectiveness of standard-order romantic comedies. Mine is to ask three questions: (1) Do I like the characters? (2) Do I sense chemistry between them? (3) Am I rooting for them to be together at t...

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them". - Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene V That single quotation, and a few of the names and plot points are all that remain of Shakespeare...

One of the great action movie staples is the story of a grim survivor bonding with and becoming the protector of a child. This adoptive parent/child relationship, if handled with a degree of finesse, can add a layer of depth to high-caliber set pi...

Despite being sold and marketed as a thriller, the most interesting aspects of Shot Caller are the dramatic ones. Beneath all the machismo and traditional crime movie trappings, writer/director Ric Roman Waugh has something to say about the d...

Edmond Rostand doesn’t get an “official” credit for “story by” but anyone claiming familiarity with Cyrano de Bergerac will immediately recognize where screenwriter Lindsey Beer drew her inspiration. It’s not unusual for a modern-da...

Silver Linings Playbook is a quirky adult romantic comedy that goes beyond the standard rhythms of the genre. Although this is a funny movie, there's an edge to the humor, not unlike what we have become accustomed to in the work of Alexander Payne....

The scenery is great, the actors are appealing, and the special effects are suitably low-key… all that's missing from Ivan Reitman's Six Days, Seven Nights is a plot with a moment's originality. This movie takes chunks from Romancing the Sto...

8-year old Jonah Baldwin (Ross Malinger) misses his mother, who died from cancer eighteen months ago. More than that, however, he recognizes that his father, Sam (Tom Hanks), is desperately lonely. So, on Christmas Eve, Jonah calls a radio talk-s...

Look back at all the times in your life when there was a fork in the path to the future. Some sort of decision had to be made, and, for better or worse, it irrevocably altered the course of your existence. From time-to-time, everyone thinks a...

Slumdog Millionaire comes from director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, who fashion what is at heart a romance into a mystery and a thriller with Dickensian undertones. It's tough not to think of David Copperfield when we see the "orph...