Features
Wednesday, April 27 2011
Celebrity and the Celebration of Art: The Transformation of Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch’s body of work is impressive. So what has previously prevented his transformation from a highly talented, sought-after actor to bona fide international celebrity?
Tuesday, January 13 2009
Celulloid Culpability - Top 10 Film Guilty Pleasures of 2008
Like comedy or music, one's choice in cinematic pleasure can be very personal - and very peculiar. Take this tantalizing list of shameful indulgences. You can argue over their artistic value, but their individuals rewards definitely speak to those who champion them.
Monday, April 28 2008
The Return of the Popcorn Circus: May 2008
In the first act of this four-part production, Tinsel Town decides to do some unbelievable front loading. Will there be room for independent offerings, or former HBO carnal comedy divas? Who knows? Without a doubt, it's an interesting way to start the season.
Tuesday, May 29 2007
Future Shock: The Death of Serious Science Fiction
The serious Science Fiction film genre is dead or at least on cinematic life support. As the new millennial marches forward, and an omnipresent production paradigm that substitutes spectacle for smarts, futurist filmmaking is definitely gasping for breath.
Columns
Thursday, August 13 2009
Oceans of Fear
Brace yourself: this is a fish tale that can silence – like the great white shark itself – all of its competitors.
Reviews
Friday, December 23 2011
'War Horse' Reveals Our Human Instincts
In War Horse, Steven Spielberg riffs on the horrors of World War I, so often supplanted by World War II epics in our collective psyche.
Wednesday, December 21 2011
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
The Adventures of Tintin is a fine, affectionate tribute to the Tintin comics, and visually, it’s dazzling. But the movie lacks Hergé’s spirit.
Friday, April 8 2011
'A.I.: Artificial Intelligence' Visually Balances a Futuristic Milieu with the Warmth of Home
Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski is responsible for adding beauty—wisps of fog, baths of light—to an otherwise relentlessly harsh story.
Tuesday, May 27 2008
Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection
There should be room in our collective imagination for a hero who makes mistakes, lots of them, and still saves the day -- these are films that should be owned.
Wednesday, May 21 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
It is a little surprising to see the silliness that leads to Crystal Skull's gargantuan climax, a series of antics simultaneously hyper and enervated.
Blogs
Tuesday, December 27 2011
Boy Wonder: 'The Adventures of Tintin'
(A) rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills, a true leap for the otherwise awkward animation type and proof that when visionaries sit behind the lens, anything can be turned into a wondrous work of art.
Friday, December 23 2011
An Amazing Animal: 'War Horse'
War Horse may be nothing new for the man who made his name as the King of the Blockbuster, but it does represent what he does best.
Tuesday, June 7 2011
The Popcorn King: The Top 10 Steven Spielberg Summer Blockbusters
The 10 Greatest Examples of Summer Movie Magic By the Filmmaker Who Created the Reason for the Season...
Wednesday, May 12 2010
Super 8 Trailer: The Non-Cameraphone Version (trailer)
The newest film from director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg may not be hitting theaters until Summer 2011, but the film's viral marketing campaign is in full swing with the online release of the teaser trailer.
Wednesday, April 21 2010
Virtual Actuality: The Prescience of 'Minority Report'
Sure, some of the material in Minority Report is present to serve the narrative needs of the whodunit mystery, but for the most part, the movie is a postcard from the edge, a glimpse into how far we will go to create an embryonic, cocooned existence.
News
Wednesday, January 11 2012
John Williams and Steven Spielberg mark 40 years of collaboration
LOS ANGELES — The quietest room in Hollywood may be the office where John Williams composes. In a bungalow on the Universal Studios lot, steps…
Wednesday, November 30 2011
Spielberg aims to make us laugh and cry this holiday season
ORLANDO, Fla. — Steven Spielberg has made a pretty fair living over the decades making audiences cry. And the Oscar winning director of “E.T.,” “Schindler’s…
Monday, July 25 2011
'Tintin' arrives at Comic-Con with heavyweights
SAN DIEGO — Steven Spielberg finally made a pilgrimage to Comic-Con on Friday, arriving at the convention for the first time in his long career…
Friday, June 10 2011
J.J. Abrams teams with his childhood hero, Steven Spielberg
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — There are plenty of stories with Hollywood endings — this is one with a Hollywood beginning. A new J.J. Abrams film…
Friday, May 23 2008
'Indiana Jones' will open strong, but will it stay hot?
LOS ANGELES - It's been nearly two decades since Indiana Jones graced the silver screen and while times have changed, the initial box-office draw of…
