Entertainment

Welcome to summer! In what I would call the first true summer movie, Now You See Me is being billed as a “caper” film. The plot is simple: Four average magicians are brought together as a Vegas act, the Four Horsemen. Together they do the unthinkable, robbing a bank during their stage …

We open with Dr. McCoy and Commander James Kirk on a strange planet, running through the jungle from primitive, white-painted natives. I’m reminded that this is definitely not Earth, because the forest isn’t green, but glaring red. The tribe chasing Kirk is about to be blown to smithereens …

It’s all about the suit you wear. Just ask any rich celebrity-superhero.

Why are baseball movies always family movies? Sure, you can think of exceptions, but they’re few and far between. There must be an unwritten rule about it. For all I know, baseball movies have to have the approval of the Commissioner of Baseball …

There are few things more terrifying than the idea of terrorists attacking American soil. But I’ve learned one thing from watching Olympus Has Fallen, where the White House itself becomes the headquarters of an international organization of bad guys:  Forget John Boehner or Nancy …

I’m a sucker for magic. I love watching it, even though I couldn’t change a one-dollar bill without dropping all the quarters. So I was anxious to see The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Steve Carell plays Burt, a boy who receives a magic kit for his birthday. It includes a video by Rance …

Ever wonder about the backstory of the wonderful wizard? In these days, all storytelling is about the prequel, and so with great ambition, Oz the Great and Powerful and Disney studios claim their ground in creating a children’s backstory to the classic movie. …

Finally, for 2013, a movie that you can bring your family to. Escape From Planet Earth was created by the same folks that brought you Despicable Me. While this movie isn’t as sophisticated as Despicable, it’s a good one to see if you have youngsters. …

Every movie, even an ultra-light teenage comedy, can be a learning experience. In this case, Warm Bodies will teach you all about Zombies, from A to Z. Now, at last, I understand what everyone’s attachment to these flesh-eating people is: Irony. And …

Les Miserables is a movie based on the Broadway musical, based on the book. It’s about the lives of several characters during the June Rebellion in France in the 1800s. What sounds like a ho-hum plot turns out to be a riveting and rollicking experience, because of the music, great acting, …

Could you survive being stuck in the Pacific Ocean on a 20-foot lifeboat for a period of months? This is what Life of Pi is about. I tell you this in case you think it’s a movie about mathematics or a cartoon character. In fact, the movie follows the book by Yann Martel, which came out in 2001. …

James Bond is one of the most successful franchises in movie history. Skyfall marks the 23rd film of 007, celebrating 50 years of the series. And what a celebration.From the opening scene, you’re sucked into a single-minded plot to expose and eliminate British Intelligence Agents. Starting with an …

If you still haven’t seen The Artist (I hadn’t) then you probably wonder why a silent black and white film would get Academy awards. I certainly did. That is partly what convinced me, finally, to see this film on DVD. The Artist is something very different from today’s films. Why would anyone …

Tyler Perry has made a film empire playing an outrageously funny black woman named Madea. I mention this because many will rush out to see Alex Cross and be shocked. This movie, about an incredibly smart detective, is extremely violent. I would call it grisly, definitely beyond its PG-13 rating.Dr. …

Poor Liam Neeson. He’s being hounded again by the bad guys. This time to make a sequel to the very successful Taken, in which he played Bryan Mills, a CIA agent whose daughter was kidnapped by Albanians for a prostitution ring. I didn’t see that first movie, but apparently Liam/Bryan killed a lot …

Maybe the big movie houses just can’t take chances anymore. In Trouble With the Curve, from Warner Brothers, we have a wonderful cast, an original story, and—a weak script. Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) is an aging baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves. His estranged daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) is an …

Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) is a young, aspiring writer. Living in New York with his girlfriend Dora (Zoe Saldana), Rory sponges off his Dad while he tries to make it big with the novel he’s writing.  But wait!  He’s just a character in a story, being read by Clayton Hammond (Dennis …

Last year, this animated movie came out around Christmas and I missed it. There were just too many other interesting movies to watch, like Alvin and the Chipmunks, I guess. Big mistake. The Adventures of Tintin, a super-realistic animated film by Stephen Spielberg, just may have been last year’s …

Meet Kay. She’s looks a lot like Meryl Streep, but that can’t be her, can it? She’s in a nightgown and looks like your mother or grandmother in a nightgown, which is to say, old and tired. She has wrinkles around her neck and arms that seem chubby, just like Grandma’s. Meet Arnold, her husband. …

Ice Age is an animated cartoon franchise about events that happened millions of years ago. It’s starting to show its age. Can the latest installment hold up?Ice Age 4 starts off with a saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat trying to snatch and stash an acorn. One of the old-time characters, Scrat is a …