Men in Black 3, the most recent installment in the beloved franchise, comes to us ten years after its predecessor, Men in Black II, and fifteen years after the original 1997 film. But thankfully, the creative team manages to capture the essence of the series in a way that seems to pick up right where it left off, like old friends catching up (it doesn't hurt that Will Smith looks like he hasn't aged a day over the last 15 years--that guy takes care of himself!). The film includes enough familiar... [Read more]

Dark Shadows, the most recent offering by the dynamic duo of Director Tim Burton and star Johnny Depp (or a terrific trio if you include Helena Bonham Carter, who has collaborated with them on projects such as Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the 2007 film version of the musical Sweeney Todd, and Alice in Wonderland), is in many ways what one would expect. It has a decidedly dark aesthetic, a supernatural storyline, and enough twisted humor to qualify it as a comedy/horror hybrid... [Read more]

Always interesting, sometimes revelatory director Paul Thomas Anderson is one of a rare breed of writer-directors in the game today who qualifies as a true Auteur with little regard for mass market demographics when it comes to articulating his singular vision on the screen. An oddity in the studio system, Anderson’s storylines resemble intricately layered Venn diagrams that flaunt convention and aren’t easily summed up in a single tagline. An expert craftsman, his first four films Hard Eight ... [Read more]

Summer’s almost here and that means that Hollywood’s stable of Summer Movie Blockbusters is about to invade your commercial airspace. Aside from the screwball comedies, sequels and reboots that we’re accustomed to, from the whimsy of Men in Black 3 to the crowd-pleasing super hero ensemble vehicle The Avengers, there are five capital “F” Films that break the mold of the usual Hollywood fare. As clichéd as they may sound on paper—a sequel, a prequel and a reboot among them—these Films feature t... [Read more]

1. "Dude, We Shrunk a Zoo!" Winkie and Nudger (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan) are a couple of deadbeat students who are unexpectedly left millions after their lonely spinster landlady, Mrs. Slagmont, passes away. When they finally sober up they realize they can't find their car, and they've bought a zoo! After about fifteen minutes they realize that animals stink - literally - and they rue the day they bought what Nudger refers to as "a giant pooh factory". Using Wilson's physics know-how, the... [Read more]

A recent act described as “provocative” ended in a “failed launch” and “embarrassment.” No, I’m not talking about the latest Cialis commercial (complete with clever symbols like sailboats and tents woven into the scenes), I’m talking about Kim Jong Il’s son Kim Jong Un’s “Failure to Launch” debacle in North Korea. Apparently, instead of feeding his starving population (kimchee is so delicious) the new leader of North Korea spent a couple hundred million on a rocket that crashed into the ocean ... [Read more]

The first trailer for Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road finally came out and wasn’t a total nightmare. Strangely, a British actor stars as Sal Paradise (Sam Riley ) alongside Tron: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund as his pleasure-seeking muse Dean Moriarty. Twilight’s Kristen Stewart also appears as Dean’s hot mess of a wife who throws him out, inadvertently kicking off Sal and Dean’s bennie-fueled trips back and forth across the country. The trai... [Read more]

This is why Community rocks:

Last week, I stumbled upon this amazing video of Whitney Houston at the 1994 American Music Awards performing a medley of some Broadway classics followed by one of her own hits. I immediately thought this would be the perfect way to start getting people as excited as I am about the long-awaited stage adaptation of the 1992 hit musical film The Bodyguard. But on Saturday, before I could complete my thoughts, I was shocked to hear that the legendary diva had passed away. Along with the rest of her... [Read more]

Image hosted at Wikipedia Johnny Ramone’s Autobiography To Be Released The Ramones are one of those bands that you cannot help but love. A big reason for that was their cartoon-like presence, fun tunes and the unforgettable sight of the Ramone "family": Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee, sporting those memorable bowl cuts a la Brian Jones 1966. Johnny Ramone's is perhaps the face we remember most, and indeed was the Ramone who maintained the look for the longest time. The Ramones disbanded in 1996 and... [Read more]