NOW is the time when the most "important" movies of the season are released before the end of the year in order to qualify for Oscars. By "important" I mean big budgets, big stars, big filmmakers, big themes. I have been waiting for something really BIG. It didn't turn out to be Daniel Day-Lewis in [...]
Here's a holiday double feature to be thankful for! The first is a sci-fi adventure franchise that neatly wraps itself up, and the second is a truly artful, old-fashioned romance that may generate a BEST ACTRESS OSCAR nomination! THE HUNGER GAMES:MOCKINGJAY-Part 2 finds Jennifer Lawrence, older and wiser as Katniss Everdeen, the leader of the rebellion in Panem against the cruel President Snow (Donald Sutherland) [...]
Here's a double feature at the movies-- you'll love beginning with THE AGE OF ADALINE. The film stars the beautiful Blake Lively as a woman named Adeline Bowman who was born at the beginning of the 20th century and hasn't aged a day since she was 29! Her secret? A car accident during a surprise snowstorm followed by [...]
January to March is typically a wasteland for good movies but here's one that might not be a complete waste, because it features two of our biggest stars and best actors. SERENA is based on the novel by Ron Rash, and features Best Actress Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence in the title role and Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper. This is a melodramatic romance set in the moody [...]
It's time for the stars of summer --Godzilla, the Guardians of the Galaxy, those rebellious apes, and Tom Cruise-- to make way for the more adult pleasures of FALL. Things are getting serious now as movies designed to jolt the brain as much as the blood pressure are set to hit the big screen, many of [...]
No matter what anyone tells you, AMERICAN HUSTLE is one of THE best movies of the year. And it was shot in Boston (standing in for New Jersey)-- so it was a kick to see the gilded Wang Theater lobby and environs decked out as a swank gambling hall for one of the film's climactic [...]
HURRY!! FREE ADVANCE SCREENING of a Columbia Pictures’ upcoming release: “AMERICAN HUSTLE” THE FIRST 25 PEOPLE TO RESPOND (via “Contact Joyce” on home page) WITH THEIR FULL NAMES WILL BE NOTIFIED OF A PASS FOR TWO! Monday, December 16, 2013 at 7:00 PM at a Boston Theater. (Theater will be named when notified.) “AMERICAN HUSTLE” [...]
I like THE HUNGER GAMES: series, and the second installment, CATCHING FIRE--despite a colleague's calling it "a long slog"--absolutely held me. Once again, the charismatic Jennifer Lawrence as the reluctant firebrand Katniss Everdeen continues to rebel against the capitol. Having out-witted the powers that be in the first Hunger Games--a TV spectacle in which children [...]
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK starring Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence & Bradley Cooper is due out on DVD on APRIL 30! If you are trying to decide whether or not to see, stream, or buy--check out my new :30 Second Review feature with video to get the bottom line fast!
What a weird off kilter night. Let's begin with the host. HOST: Seth MacFarlane-got off to a good fresh start, loved his signing and dancing, but pacing evaded him; he gradually wore thin, and practically disappeared until he and the chirpy Kristin Chenoweth re-emerged for that last, depressing musical coda about the losers. Seth was [...]
