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Watching The Scorpion King, the question that came to mind was whether Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could become a Schwarzenegger for the '00s. Having asked that, however, it's worth considering whether Schwarzenegger in his prime could have had th...

Sometimes, even a hardened critic can be surprised by a movie. Based on the promotional material, Sex Drive appears headed down the worn track followed by a long line of formulaic teenage road comedies. I won't bother listing the titles - those w...

With a legion of titles like Pet Sematary, Firewalker, Sleepwalkers, Maximum Overdrive, and Children of the Corn, it's reasonable not to expect much from Stephen King-inspired motion pictures. Adaptations of the prolific author's work typically va...

The Shining is a curious motion picture. On the one hand, as a ghost story and adaptation of the Stephen King novel, it's largely a failure. On the other hand, as an example of directorial bravura and as a study of madness and the unreliable narr...

We live in a world in which conspiracy theories abound, so it comes as no surprise that many thrillers incorporate governmental backstabbing, double-dealing, and cover-ups into the fabric of their story. In a time when paranoia and distrust of the...

I can understand director Matthew Ross’ dilemma. In order to get Siberia made, he needed a “name” to become involved. That “name” was Keanu Reeves. Unfortunately, Reeves lacks the intensity necessary to play the main character, Lucas...

Why would a successful director like Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liasons, The Grifters, Hero) go from the relative security of Hollywood to the near-obscurity of Ireland to make a little film like The Snapper? Frears himself supplied the answer by...

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes: Macbeth Act IV, Scene 1 The cliché goes like this: They don’t make ‘em like they used to. And, at least in the case of Something Wicked This Way Comes, ne’er a truer wor...

In the marketing material for Sonic the Hedgehog, Paramount’s synopsis begins with the following words: “Based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega…” Little more needs to be said. In the grand tradition of other moti...

Stand By Me reinforces something that has been understood in Hollywood for decades: nostalgia sells. With this film, it's "planned nostalgia," meaning that the production was designed from the beginning to encourage older audience members to look ...