Everybody’s talking about ‘American Sniper,’ good and bad

Normally I’d shy away from leading my Thursday Film News blog with the same movie I reviewed to start the week. I can’t help myself in the case of “American Sniper.” To call the blockbuster about the life and death of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle increasingly controversial is somewhat of an understatement. To read today’s…

Before there was your Gravatar, there was ‘Avatar’

Are you happy with your Gravatar? I like mine so much I’ve given it a name. And The Head has taken on a life of his own, thanks to my friends here on WordPress and their artistic abilities. But I digress. It’s fun. Did you know that Gravatar comes from Globally Recognized Avatar, which really…

‘Sex Tape’ soils the top of my worst 2014 movie pile

My bottom 10 from the 52 first-run films that I saw for my weekly Monday Film Review Blogs on the Syracuse New Times site is over yonder, the first entry for my 2015 Thursday Film News Blogs. Talk about making news … You can read my Bottom 10 for 2014 on the infinitely interesting Syracuse…

I ‘present’ my top 10 films list for 2014

As you savor the mood of a post-holiday Friday, I offer you this gift. Over on the Syracuse New Times site is my Top 10 list of my favorite films from 2014. OK, I’ll give you No. 10. That would be “The 100-Foot Journey,” the pretty delightful Disney offering featuring Helen Mirren as the French…

Now you won’t see ‘The Interview’ at a theater near you

The power play between the hackers and SONY Pictures went too far. The terrorists — and that’s what they made themselves — earlier this week said if the movie “The Interview” were screened today in New York City, bad deeds of 9/11 proportions would result. And then SONY Pictures had to pull the movie from…

A new meaning for the word Headquarters

Pixar will have a movie coming out next year. Now that I know about “Inside Out,” you bet I missed this company’s animation. In today’s edition of my weekly Film News blog for the Syracuse New Times site, I talk about the Cinema Blend story that reveals much about that movie. An important term is…

What do Will Ferrell, William Shakespeare, ‘Star Wars’ and Maine have in common?

I write about them all in my weekly Film News blog for the Syracuse New Times today, that’s what. And you can read all about it by clicking the link below. http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/will-ferrell-will-get-to-work-with-will-shakespeare/ What, you want a little nibble more? OK. Ferrell is said to star in a movie about Willie. There’s news about ANOTHER Star…

After watching ‘Selma,’ reviewer hears about Ferguson verdict

There are a lot of folks in Ferguson, Mo., who aren’t likely having a quiet and peaceful Thanksgiving today. The city outside of St. Louis has been in turmoil since Monday night, as the world knows, since it was announced that a grand jury did not charge the policeman who killed teenager Michael Brown. Protesters…

A story about the passing of longtime film critic gets me thinking about the art

Charles Champlin was a couple of letters, a few decades and the opposite side of the camera away from a film legend. Nevertheless, the man who shared an industry and initials with Charlie Chaplin earned major stories in the Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Times upon his passing at the age of 88 this week.…

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…