Ah, summertime. Blue skies. Green grass. The sound of birds singing in the trees. The perfect time for a stroll through the park, watching people and dogs pass the lazy, carefree day tossing the Frisbee and playing catch. Oh crap, I just stepped in “Scooby-Doo.” Read the rest of this entry »

“From Dusk Till Dawn,” the slam-bang action-horror from director Robert Rodriguez and writer Quentin Tarantino, is one of my favorite vampire films. The film’s combination of cutthroat action and wicked humor made it much more than just your run-of-the-mill, fangs-for-the-memory film. Read the rest of this entry »

Does the world really need another thriller about the reverberations of adultery?

In director Adrian Lyne’s “Unfaithful,” we’re asked to believe that content wife and mother Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) would jeopardize her marriage to successful and handsome husband Edward (Richard Gere) for a fling with womanizing book seller Paul (Olivier Martinez). Read the rest of this entry »

The events that transpire in Monster-in-Law could only happen in the movies. Too bad they didn’t happen in a better movie, or even a mildly engaging movie. No, they had to happen in this loud, abrasive, nails-on-the-chalkboard character comedy so over the top even the actors appear to lose consciousness. Read the rest of this entry »

An act of desperation if ever there was one. Realizing that their “Superman” franchise had run out of gas, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind turned their attention to the man of steel’s pretty cousin, “Supergirl.” Read the rest of this entry »

Ladder 49 is competently made, has some decent performances, and occasionally ignites the screen with its pyrotechnic displays. It also plays it safe, which is a big mistake. Packaged and marketed like heroic action figures, Ladder 49 does a good job of putting firemen up on pedestals. It’s not a difficult task. Anyone willing to rush into a dangerous situation deserves our respect and reward. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since childhood, Dahlia Williams (Jennifer Connelly) has been dealing with abandonment issues. She dreams about her alcoholic, inattentive mother coming and going, never being there for a frightened little girl sitting alone in the rain. Unfortunately for Dahlia, when it rains, it pours, and her recurring childhood June gloom is about to engulf her only chance at happiness. Read the rest of this entry »

They’ve got guns, girls, a hot car, a badge, but most of all, they’ve got each other. They’re “Starsky & Hutch,” Bay City cops living on opposite sides of the law. David Starsky (Ben Stiller) is the anal retentive, by-the-book cop who respects the job even if his fellow officers don’t respect him. Read the rest of this entry »

The heat can make you do crazy things. In “Phoenix,” a decent stab at but not slice of film noir, the temperature is soaring. Thanks to a tidy yet familiar script by Eddie Richey and assured direction by Danny Cannon, “Phoenix” ignites the screen with gut-wrenching action and incendiary performances. Read the rest of this entry »

I have known musicians, pianists in particular, who are so passionate about their music that they become one with their instrument. It’s a sort of musical nirvana that completely engulfs the player, creating a bubble that separates the musician from the distractions around them. Read the rest of this entry »