Forget the whole 3D added-value deal–for the price of a single World War Z movie ticket you get at least three movies in one: World War Z Film One–The Book Adaptation: The first World War Z is the book lover’s worse nightmare: a complete and total failure to capture even a fraction of the rich, dark pleasures [...]

It took until mid-June, but this movie season finally has what every summer needs. After a May filled with decent-but-uninspiring fare like Iron Man and Star Trek, dumb-fun stuff like Fast and Furious 6, and universally-agreed-upon whipping boy After Earth, in Man of Steel we finally have a blockbuster everyone—fans, critics, geeks, and mainstream popcorn [...]

* Your results may vary. I admit I was getting nervous. More and more often in recent years, I’ve gone to see big-name “comedies” that everyone else thought were “heeee-larious,” but I found at best amusing, at worst, hateful and horrifically unfunny. We all know humor is a personal, subjective thing, and that it thrives [...]

Two summers ago I was knocked out by the DIY micro-budget science-fiction film Another Earth and the thoughtful, creative integrity and energy of its makers, writer-director Mike Cahill and writer-star Brit Marling. When I interviewed the two back in 2011, I was further impressed and inspired by their story: Marling, an economics major, had met [...]

Last year, while watching 21 Jump Street, I was impressed by the handsome, charismatic young actor playing the eco-minded high-school drug dealer, and scribbled in my notes, “It looks like this kid stole James Franco’s DNA.” Of course, by the end of the movie, I’d realized how true that was: The actor was in fact [...]

“… So shut it, hatas.” – Signed, the Pinkett-Smith Family, M. Night Shyamalan, and Justin Bieber There are films that fail because of shoddy production, lazy film making, and a general pandering lack of cohesive creative vision. Films that don’t try, that don’t care, that have nothing but obvious, greedy contempt for their audiences. And [...]