You can’t help but root for J-La and C-Pratt as the lonely Passengers

Imagine buying a spot on a really cool spaceship that’s scheduled to land on another world 90 years down the road. Your fee earns you 90 or so years in a hibernation chamber. A few months before landing, you and your co-passengers will awaken to an indoctrination session led by androids that will provide lessons…

Jennifer Lawrence mops up again in Joy, but don’t let the title fool you

Let’s get one thing straight right away. Joy is not so much a happy movie at its core. Oh, the mostly-taken-from-the-life of entrepreneur Joy Mangano story directed and co-written by David O. Russell (with the help of Bridesmaids writer Amy Mumolo) indeed follows the journey of the harried woman as struggles to take her idea…

It’s over for The Hunger Games, and it’s epic

Talk about war and peace. Katniss Everdeen rests. The fourth and likely finale in the Hunger Games franchise that started with the girl who fired an arrow into the hearts of so many in 2012 landed in America’s theaters this pre-Thanksgiving weekend with its snowballing success and great expectations for star Jennifer Lawrence and the…

You can sit it in halfway hungry and fill up

I saw the first part of “The Hunger Games” series a year after the fact, on NetFlix. Not on my iPad or phone, thankfully. I watched the blockbuster hit on my living room flat screen. Still, the dystopian story didn’t really win my over. I didn’t gush, and I didn’t rush out to see part…

Can an actor make you laugh with just one word?

A few times now, the funny-looking man at the front desk of a big city hotel has recited his name and a word that you don’t hear much these days. It’s a trailer for a movie that’s opening on Jan. 23. The make-up job is good, because the actor is Johnny Depp. He’s the title…