Summer blockbuster movies
Every summer, it seems, there's another one of those zillion-dollar, effects-laden, mega-size blockbuster/potential cash cows that opens...
'One Day's' director on the Hathaway difference
Here's the thing about casting Anne Hathaway as a snappish sad-sack and middle-class Englishwoman in the romantic comedy-drama "One Day."...
'Fright Night': Fangs for the laughs
Plenty gory, but graced by a jovial sense of humor and an enjoyably guts-centric use of 3-D, director Craig Gillespie's remake of the 1985...
'Spy Kids': Hold your nose and keep an eye on your watch
The scratch-and-sniff "Aroma-Scope" gimmick of "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World" didn't work. Maybe I just got a defective card, but all...
'Conan,' still blood-soaked, returns with a dash of PC
One hundred and 12 minutes of "Aaaaarrrrrrrrggggghhhh!" — the new 3-D edition of "Conan the Barbarian" was shot in Bulgaria, so really...
'Senna': Sad tale makes the heart race
At the heart of the gripping documentary "Senna" lies a rivalry born for the movies. Director Asif Kapadia's film plays like a narrative...
'One Day' of their lives
Like "Same Time, Next Year" with less guilt or "When Harry Met Sally ... " with a somewhat different ending, "One Day" pops in and out of...
New doc unearths story behind making of 'The Spook Who Sat By the Door'
"A difficult work to judge coherently," is how critic Vincent Canby characterized "The Spook Who Sat By the Door" in his 1973 review of...
Vegas vampires in the 1970s faced an unforgettable foe
This week's release of "Fright Night," a sharp-witted remake which brings vampires to modern-day Las Vegas in all its sunny horror, marks...
'Friends' benefits from familiar premise, better cast
Since American media sexualizes almost everything except sex, Hollywood romantic comedies about two people making hey-hey without any big...
Stone expresses admiration for 'Help' star Viola Davis
You are about to experience one of the best movies of 2011 so far. "The Help" is an adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel about African-...
'30 Minutes or Less' a half-and-half comedy
Fast, cheap and out of control, and set in glamorous Grand Rapids, Mich., director Ruben Fleischer's "30 Minutes or Less" doesn't even crack...
'The Help' (3 stars) gets an assist from a memorable performance by Viola Davis
"The Help" has Viola Davis going for it, and she is more than enough. The actress deserves the Academy Award nomination (if not the Oscar...
'The Whistleblower': True story is rendered with excess earnestness
When a movie is "inspired by true events," the ideal is that the real-story backdrop will lend an air of authenticity to the drama, but...
'Final Destination' becomes a bridge too far
"Final Destination 5," starring a million shards of glass and several interchangeably dull young actors plus a couple of good ones,...
'Point Blank': Danger, baby, danger
My nerves are still jangling from having seen "Point Blank" a few weeks ago, and that was before the shut-the-country-down!...
Where in Hollywood history will 'Help' land?
History has determined which race-relations film from 1989 — "Driving Miss Daisy" (based on Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play)...
The latest documentary from the maker of 'Hoop Dreams'
While working on a 2008 cover story for the New York Times Magazine about Chicago's CeaseFire program, Oak Park-based author and reporter...
Stars hot to deliver laughs
Six months after walking the red carpet as a best actor Oscar nominee, Jesse Eisenberg and his new co-star Aziz Ansari were scrambling...
Lunch with 'The Help'
As the young, rising star, the breakout-poised veteran actress and the big-leap-making director enjoyed a lunch of oysters, salads and...
Another McDonagh makes his mark
Three years older than his currently more famous brother, Martin, writer-director John Michael McDonagh shot his debut film feature, "The...
'Apes' prequel stands alone, upright
Swift and nimble, like the rising ape at its center, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is gratifyingly free of the usual big-budget...
'Change-Up': When acting isn't enough
The occasion was a bedroom farce, as they used to call them, from a more buttoned-up era. When the comedy "Any Wednesday" opened on Broadway...
'The Future' offers whimsy in the right measure
"Now that this has happened, what are my options?" Sophie asks her new thrill, Marshall, in "The Future." Sophie's long-term boyfriend,...
Another McDonagh finds cinematic success in 'The Guard'
For the f-word in heavy, conventional rotation, go see "The Change-Up." Which is another way of saying there's not much reason to go see...
Empty lot incubates uncommon film fest
There are more than 175 movies-under-the-stars screenings scheduled for Chicago's parks this summer. Most will feature standard Hollywood...
'Devil's Double': Story of Uday Hussein's body double is relentlessly violent and lurid
Based on an autobiographical novel by Latif Yahia, an army lieutenant who was forced to become a body double for Saddam Hussein's...
Marathoner races his demons in 'The Robber'
What makes Johann run? There are no ready answers to that question, no cautionary back story or psychological conjecture in "The Robber,"...
Laurence Fishburne to play Clark Kent's editor in 'Superman'
Laurence Fishburne will edit Superman in “Man of Steel,” TheWrap has confirmed.
The complete book on gospel music
Don McGlynn's "Rejoice and Shout" is probably the first documentary ever to look comprehensively at the 200-year musical history of African-...
'Cowboys' pits Craig and Ford's six-guns against ray-guns
Wait, cowboys and aliens? In the face of constant, competitive challenges the movie industry clings to a handful of truths, among...
Carell and Moore's rom-com has a 'Crazy, Stupid' setup
In the aggravatingly punctuated romantic comedy "Crazy, Stupid, Love." (can you even believe that period?) does anyone ever discuss...
'The Office's' good girl takes a mildly dark turn
In the low-key black comedy "A Little Help" Jenna Fischer plays a Long Island dental hygienist who likes her Budweisers a little too much,...
'Another Earth': Fates of two humans shape a moving sci-fi tale
"Another Earth" is quietly and movingly out of this world.
Movie review: 'Life in a Day'
"Life in a Day" is like a man-(woman and child)-on-the-street interview gone insanely and inventively viral. Carved out of cyber-reality and...
Distant past trumps recent past in adaptation
"Sarah's Key" is more powerful than you expect, maybe even more powerful than it should be. An emotional detective story based on an...
Farewell to 2 character actors of distinction
For decades now, whenever one of my work colleagues put forth a dubious idea or exhibited irrational or violent behavior, I couldn't help...
First werewolves, now aliens in London
The low-budget British aliens-invade-the-'hood thriller "Attack the Block" reminded me of Rick's famous line in "Casablanca," his reply when...
Fischer faces her future with 'A Little Help'
There's an image Jenna Fischer has cultivated as the shy, winsome Pam on the long-running TV series "The Office." And even as she breaks...
Smurfs in 3-D? Not as scary as you might think
The good news about the big-screen 3-D version of "The Smurfs" is that it's not the insipid — and some say "socialist" —...
'Sex and the City' prequel in the works?
Though no contracts have been signed, buzz surrounding a possible "Sex and the City" prequel is running rampant on celebrity gossip and...