San Andreas (2015)

San Andreas (2015)

Save the dog-in-peril, there is nary a disaster movie cliché that goes unturned in San Andreas. It promises large-scale destruction, and that’s exactly what it delivers. Sandwiched among the visual effects showcases are sketchy dialogue and laughably generic character types, but director Brad Peyton and screenwriter Carlton Cuse are much more… Continue reading

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Spoiler alert: Mary Poppins gets made. But it’s the long and frustrating journey to reach the final product that is the subject of Saving Mr. Banks, a refreshingly insightful look into the mind of the troubled author who wrote the book. This could have easily been two hours of Disney… Continue reading

Shoot ‘Em Up (2007)

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

I have spent the past several years crowing about how the action genre is dead and has been taken over by sci-fi and comic book adaptations. The days of the “body count movie” were thought to be over (mainly due to increasing similarities between reality and fiction), but along comes… Continue reading

The Illusionist (2006)

The Illusionist (2006)

The Illusionist feels like a relic from a lost era at the movies. Set in early 1900’s Vienna, Neil Burger’s film truly feels like it belongs in a 1940’s throwback theater with five cent popcorn. It’s a big enough rarity in itself to find a solid crime/drama these days at… Continue reading

Lady in the Water (2006)

Lady in the Water (2006)

How does one even begin to approach a film as silly, boring, and self-indulgent as M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water? Considering the current trend is to bash Shyamalan mercilessly (a surprising number of people just can’t seem to get over The Village), I have no shame whatsoever in… Continue reading