Yes, another good food film, ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’

A lot can happen in 100 feet. Just look at the characters in “The Hundred-Foot Journey.” Thanks to great acting by Helen Mirren and Om Puri, and very good acting by Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon, food movie fans can see good taste, tension, customs, passion, cultures, relations, recipes, Michelin stars and love. It’s…

When you used to be Governor, you can make up words

Arnold Schwarzenegger told the world on Instagram Wednesday that the fifth Terminator film will be called “Terminator Genisys.” The world laughed. Taunted. Asked him if he knew how to spell. Over on my Syracuse New Times Film News installment of my twice-weekly blog, I compared it to the way they willy-nilly come up with the…

‘Get on Up’ shows all sides of James Brown

When I saw James Brown listed for the main stage of Woodstock ’99 in Rome, N.Y., I made sure I was as close as possible in my role as music critic for the big daily. In fact, the promoters made him the opening act. The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, the Godfather of Soul…

You can expect a pretty Wild West from Tarantino in 2015

Word was, Quentin Tarantino was pretty steamed when his script for “Hateful Eight” was leaked online. He threatened to scrap it. Pick something else for his eighth movie. Now word is that the movie is on, shooting will begin in January, and the release will come before 2015 becomes 2016. That could make lovers of…

‘Lucy’ makes me use my brain, as limited as it may be

In “Lucy,” a big deal is made about how we all use 10 percent of our brain, maximum. And then some very evil folks figure a way to steal a drug that increases brain power. Accidents happen and Lucy, played brilliantly by Scarlett Johansson, becomes the one person on the planet becoming smarter and smarter…

The Turtles are set for a noisy return, 23 years later

In 1991, a whole bunch of young Americans went ape for a bunch on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Word is that they’d like to go see the remake set for release come next month. But, of course, they might not like the changes that Michael Bay, he of the big and bad “Transformers,” is bringing…

Universal wants their monsters to match

The folks at Universal know they have a lot of cha-ching in their monster movie closet. So they’re making a move they hope will make the most of it. Put on the job are the folks who’ve already tuned some cash register music with “Transformers” and “Fast and Furious.” First up with by “The Mummy,”…

I’m here to gasp about a really long trailer

My Movie News blog over at the Syracuse New Times site this week takes a minute or two to discuss a topic that’s without a doubt a sore point. The long movie trailer. Too much. Much much too much. I found two stories about a trailer that runs 72 minutes. It’s for a movie titled…