SKYFALL
The 23rd installment in the longest-running franchise in cinema history is crafted to satisfy fans from every era of the…
Franchise
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
The bottom-line is that Christopher Nolan is a better director than he is a screenwriter. He specializes in plot holes…
THE EXPENDABLES 2
For his role as the story’s baddie Vilain, Jean Claude Van Damme works some undermined magic. A mano y mano…
THE BOURNE LEGACY
Although it has less of its predecessors’ fast-twitch action, this long awaited installment in the Robert Ludlum-created “Bourne” movie franchise…
TED
Non-sequitur cultural icons get put through McFarlane’s comic blender. Nora Jones, Tom Skerritt, and television’s Flash Gordon actor Sam Jones…
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Capsules Blog, Children's Cinema, Comic Book, Franchise, Re-boot, Superhero, THREE STARS, Women's Cinema
How quickly generations come and go. If you’re old enough to remember seeing Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man, and thought Tobey…
MEN IN BLACK 3
“Men In Black III” might not have all the earmarks of a comic classic, yet Will Smith and Josh Brolin…
AMERICAN REUNION
This (hopefully) final nail in the coffin of the “American Pie” teen-sex franchise —inspired by “Portnoy’s Complaint” — manages to…
THE HUNGER GAMES
Action/Adventure, Capsules Blog, Dystopia, Franchise, Literary Adaptation, ONE STAR, Sci-Fi, Women's Cinema
However true to Suzanne Collins’s popular young adult novel, Gary Ross’s filmic adaptation of “The Hunger Games” is a dystopian…
JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
Though hampered by some uninspired efforts in the joke department from newbie cousin screenwriters Brian and Mark Gunn, “Journey 2:…
JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
Director Brad Peyton (“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”) struggles to make the most of superficially impressive creatures…
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL
Aside from an unwarranted bit of miscasting in the guise of Simon Pegg, “Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol” is an energetic addition…
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO — REBOOT
Capsules Blog, Drama, FOUR STARS, Franchise, Literary Adaptation, Re-boot, Video Essay, Women's Cinema
David Fincher can do a great re-make. Now, let’s hope he never does one again. By definition, remakes demand that…
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS
Guy Ritchie continues to degrade the iconic characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, albeit with a fresh round of…
JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN
While it doesn’t live up to the quirky physical comedy the incomparable Rowan Atkinson is capable of, this follow-up to…
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
The filmmakers clearly made an enormous faux paux in splitting the final chapter into two parts. Considering how exasperating Part…
THE HANGOVER: PART II
The formula that worked so well the first time around loses some steam in this follow-up to the most successful…
THE HANGOVER PART II
The formula mold that worked so well the first time around loses some steam in this follow up to the…
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES — CANNES 2011
Action/Adventure, Cannes Film Festival, Children's Cinema, Franchise, Reviews Blog, THREE STARS, Video Essay
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is far from being a perfect adventure movie. Although Ian McShane does a…
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1
This is not a good way to wrap up the franchise. A flawed decision to split the final installment of…
COLE SMITHEY’S CLASSIC CINEMA
