Category: Film

As someone who’s always been a bit indifferent to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, I can go out on a very thin limb and say that—for pure entertainment value—I enjoy watching The Hobbit films more than the adventures of Frodo. There. Got that off my chest. The Lord of the Rings trilogy strikes...

The Criterion Collection recently issued a double-feature containing both the 1946 and 1964 versions of the film noir classic The Killers, loosely based on a 1927 short story by Ernest Hemingway. Each film is a classic in its own right, so kudos to Criterion for resisting any temptation to release them separately. On top of...

So many people know and love The Fabulous Baker Boys, it’s hard to believe so few people saw it during its original theatrical run in 1989. According to Box Office Mojo, this critically-acclaimed film was only the 60th highest-grossing of that year. It may not have drawn in moviegoers, but it sure garnered an audience...

“Duff” is an acronym for “designated ugly fat friend.” In the new teen comedy The DUFF, Mae Whitman holds that dubious title as Bianca Piper, always flanked by her conventionally hotter friends, Jess (Skyler Samuels) and Casey (Bianca Santos). Never mind that Bianca is neither “ugly” nor “fat,” that’s not the point. As very frankly...

Steve James (Hoop Dreams) directed the documentary Life Itself, an adaptation of the late film critic Roger Ebert’s memoir of the same name. Ebert was involved in the production, bravely allowing the disfiguring results of his surgical procedures to be photographed up close by James’ unflinching camera. Ebert’s work as one of the most influential...

Arriving on Blu-ray and DVD on November 25 is Sylvester Stallone’s latest all-star action blowout, The Expendables 3. Those who decried the PG-13 rating will eagerly anticipate the Blu-ray’s unrated edition (the theatrical cut is included as well), but don’t expect anything too different. The unrated version only adds five minutes and they don’t add...

Knights of Badassdom is a genre-bender boasting a cast of highly recognizable television stars that all but guarantees a ready-made audience. A group of friend and dedicated LARPers (Live Action Role-Players) convene somewhere in Eastern Washington (the film was shot in and around Spokane) to enact a medieval fantasy. They wind up with far more...

Thirty-five years ago, Sally Field delivered her first Oscar-winning performance. The film was Norma Rae, directed by Martin Ritt and written by Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch. Now available on Blu-ray for the first time, the film is every bit as engrossing, entertaining, and inspiring as it was upon its first release. The plot...

With a worldwide box office haul of $950 million (about five percent less than 2012’s An Unexpected Journey), it’s hard to argue with the decision to turn The Hobbit into a series of three excessively lengthy movies. That said, it’s hard to imagine a lesser return—in terms of narrative complexity and character development—than what Peter...

Grudge Match coasts by, for a while at least, on its lighthearted atmosphere and the energy of a game cast. Aging boxing rivals Henry “Razor” Sharp (Sylvester Stallone) and Billy “The Kid” McDonnen (Robert De Niro) are called upon to provide motion capture and voiceover work for an upcoming video game. The 60-somethings each won...