Yet in spite of the casting and honorable revamps, it feels more dated than the 1939 original did for its time period. Read more>>

A crowd-pleaser at the Sundance Film Festival, this indie comedy is Ham-lite, to be sure. Read more<<

The objects in “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” can be mesmerizing and full of personality.
But the G-rated fable from writer-director Zach Helm isn’t about an island of fine (or even misfit) toys. It’s a tale about a collection of oddballs finding their place in a little shop of wonders. Read more

Blame it on David Chase that it’s become harder to make a resonant mob movie. The creator of “The Sopranos” didn’t just understand the neuroses of the gangster. He consistently grasped our gangster love and walloped us on our heads for it. “American Gangster,” rich with ’70s atmospherics (hampered by a score more “Baretta” than “Superfly”) owes us similar complexity, but never strikes as tense a chord. Read more

No one can accuse director Gavin Hood’s multicharacter-driven film, starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal and Meryl Streep, of lacking ambition. It doesn’t achieve the grandest of those. It isn’t a seamless drama. But it raises worthwhile quandaries and delivers flashes of acting prowess - from Streep in particular.Read more

First time director Ben Affleck gives audiences a fresh taste of his promise early on Read more

George Clooney taps the power of his fine mug to convey awe, humility, defeat, anger, as this titular character comes face-to-face with things greater than himself. Read More

If you doubt that we live in complicated times, you need only visit your nearby multiplex, where visceral clapping is likely to burst forth at complicated moments. Read more

“I want people to know how I feel about the movie. I like it. But at the end of this, I really need a shower,” Jodie Foster tells Lisa Kennedy. Read more

If at some point after the jarring finale of “The Brave One” unhinges your jaw you don’t ponder the courage implied by the movie’s title, then you have missed an opportunity to wrestle with your ethics and your visceral needs. Read more