Freeze Frame

With movies like the action trilogy “Olympus Has Fallen,” “London Has Fallen and “Angel Has Fallen,” Scottish actor Gerard Butler is carving out a niche for himself as an action […]

Tom Hanks plays a judgmental curmudgeon facing bitter personal disappointment in the sentimental comic drama, “A Man Called Otto.” Upon his forced retirement, a lonely widower must decide what to do with […]

Time for my annual countdown of the best movies of the year. 10) Amazing aerial stunt work overcomes the absurd, testosterone-fueled script in the entertaining box office blockbuster, “Top Gun: […]

Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle wants to have it both ways. He wants “Babylon” to be a celebration of the decadent excesses of Old Hollywood as well as a condemnation of […]

Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water) adds some new twists to the classic story in a new stop-motion musical adaptation.

Oscar-winner Will Smith returns for yet another powerful performance in the harrowing historical drama “Emancipation,” now in theaters and on Apple TV+. While somewhat fictionalized, “Emancipation” tells the heart-wrenching story […]

Had enough heartwarming holiday fare? If so, then the dark R-rated comedy “Violent Night” might be more to your liking. David Harbour of “Stranger Things” fame plays a tired, inebriated, […]

For fifty years, Steven Spielberg has been Hollywood’s preeminent filmmaker. His latest movie, “The Fabelmans,” is his most personal yet. This semi-autobiographical story is about a young boy who discovers the magic of filmmaking. But more than that, it’s about how his thorny family dynamics shaped him as an artist. Heartfelt. humane and beautifully acted, […]

“She Said” is a timely journalist procedural in the fashion of “All the President’s Men” and “Spotlight.” It depicts the efforts of two New York Times reporters, played by Carrie Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, to expose the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Their discoveries helped spark the #MeToo movement. While this lengthy […]

The highly anticipated sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is a sprawling, action-packed and overlong Marvel epic, redeemed by filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s vision that serves as an earnest salute to the late Chadwick Boseman, who initially played the title character. It’s also a thoughtful commentary on colonialism. Laticia Wright takes the spotlight as Shuri, the Black […]

Watching the pitch-black comedy of writer/director Martin McDonough can sometimes feel like an assault. His latest effort, “The Banshees of Inisherin” is no exception. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson give compelling performances as two friends living on an isolated island off the coast of Ireland. Things degenerate violently when one decides that he can no […]

An important story respectfully told. That’s the bottom line for the heartbreaking historical drama “Till.” Danielle Deadwyler gives a riveting performance as the mother of Emmit Till, the black teen murdered by white racists in Mississippi in 1955, the event that ignited the Civil Rights movement. You can count on seeing Deadwyler’s name bandied about a […]

The DC Cinematic Universe adds yet another larger-than-life character to its ever-expanding lineup. Dwayne Johnson is “Black Adam,” a superpowered antihero from the Middle Eastern nation of Kahndaq, who becomes the nemesis of the Justice Society. After being entombed for 5000 years, Black Adam is released and his existence endangers the citizens…blah, blah, blah. If your […]

The title of the movie is “Halloween Ends.” And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Bonner Springs to sell you. After 11 films over 44 years, Jamie Lee Curtis is still being menaced by boogeyman Michael Meyers in theaters and on Peacock. Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, now battling depression and […]

What do you get when you combine an intriguing story, great cast, impressive production values and a top-notch director? In the case of “Amsterdam,” you get a real mess. Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington lead a terrific ensemble in David O. Russell’s bold experiment gone awry. It’s a murder mystery, period drama, […]

A heartfelt and empathetic performance by Ana de Armas as troubled Hollywood superstar Marilyn Monroe isn’t quite enough to elevate the excessively depressing NC-17 drama, “Blonde, ” now on Netflix. […]

Olivia Wilde’s feminist sci-fi thriller “Don’t Worry Darling” has generated outsized interest due to the headlines involving the backstage turmoil during and after filming. I just wish the movie were as […]

“The Woman King” should be a contender for a gold crown come Oscar time. Viola Davis leads a stellar cast in this action-packed historical epic about an elite unit of female […]

America’s dad wants to be a real dad. Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto in the Disney Plus live-action remake of the 1940 animated masterpiece, “Pinocchio.” Cynthia Erivo plays the Blue Fairy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt provides the voice of Jiminy Cricket and Keegan-Michael Key is the duplicitous Honest John. Hanks re-teams here for the fourth time with […]

When it comes to the comic mockumentary “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul,” you can thank heaven for one thing: the outstanding performances from Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown. They play the first lady and pastor of a megachurch, preaching the gospel of prosperity. But a sex scandal complicates their comeback efforts. This dark […]

The Idris Elba film fest continues for the second week in a row with the ambitious fantasy, “Three Thousand Years of Longing.” Elba plays a genie who emerges from a bottle to grant scholar Tilda Swinton three wishes. What follows is an off-beat philosophical meditation on human desire. This earnest effort was written and directed […]

Who is the king of the jungle, man or beast? Idris Elba finds out the hard way in the unnerving new action thriller, “Beast.” A widower doctor takes his estranged teenage girls to Africa to visit a wildlife preserve. They encounter an enraged lion out to kill all humans after his pride is wiped out by […]

If “Men in Black” had been about vampires instead of aliens, it may have looked a bit like the tongue-in-cheek horror movie, “Day Shift.” Jamie Foxx plays a rogue vampire hunter in suburban LA. He tries to get back in the vampire hunters union, but has troubles with his new union steward, played by Dave […]

Brad Pitt is a charismatic, Oscar-winning actor. His considerable efforts and some outstanding stunt choreography aren’t enough to save the over-the-top action comedy, “Bullet Train.” Pitt plays an assassin sent to Japan to recover a mysterious briefcase on the world’s fastest train, only to find himself confronting an assortment of colorful bad guys. The frantic action […]

File the animated action comedy “DC League of Super Pets” under the ‘pleasant surprises’ category. Krypto, Superman’s dog, puts together a crew of rescue pets to save his master and the other members of the Justice League when their lives are threatened by a super evil guinea pig. Okay, okay, I thought this one would […]