Hollywood long ago learned to take mumble-mouth, top-heavy Sylvester Stallone seriously. He was nominated for Best Actor in 1977 for his role as boxer Rocky Balboa, in a film for which he also received a nom for writing. It spawned four more sequels.  Then, not long ago, Stallone had a comeback. With The Expendables, he…

Emily Rose. Hannah Grace. The problem with all these young girls, all these hauntings and all these possession films is after a while, we just can’t tell them apart. The Possession of Hannah Grace is certainly not a bad horror film by any means, but it adds nothing to an overwrought genre. With a crucial,…

Green Book is one of the most unbelievable, hilarious and stirring films to grace cinema screens this year. So to find out it was directed by Peter Farrelly — part of the brother duo behind Hall Pass, There’s Something About Mary and The Three Stooges — is a shock to the system. Farrelly has resisted…

Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen has shocked us for years, with films Shame and 12 Years A Slave. While Widows may be his most commercial work, it shows a maturity that only solidifies has name as one of the best directors working. Set in the Chicago streets, it follows four women who are tasked with repaying…

The genuine performances and scientific awe let Canadian sci-fi romance Clara truly flourish. Suits fans know him and love him, but Patrick J. Adams drops the lawyer act and puts on spectacles to play a brooding scientist on the verge of a great discovery. Flawed, difficult and dealing with personal trauma, his Dr. Isaac Bruno…

It isn’t the first conversion therapy film to grace screens this year, but Boy Erased sure does spring forward with the most emotional depth. Though The Miseducation of Cameron Post, another film on the same topic, hit screens here in October. director/writer/actor force Joel Edgerton’s picture is far superior. There’s a trapped rage and anguish…

With a name like producer J.J. Abrams on-board, you knew this one was going to be a barn-burner. What I never would have expected, though, was this this World War II-set horror film is an absolutely scorching, terrifying piece of art. It’s a break-neck paced, terrifying movie that you won’t be able to forget. It…

For all of you who lost your confidence in Melissa McCarthy when you realized she wasn’t the “life of the party” anymore, maybe she can win you back with this sympathetic portrayal. It’s sure as hell not Bridesmaids, but Can You Ever Forgive Me? will nab her a second Oscar nomination for playing beaten, downtrodden,…

When the trailers for this film graced cinema screens, like most, I was underwhelmed. Anyone who has sat through a Mark Wahlberg Christmas release comedy the last few years knows that Daddy’s Home and its sequel aren’t exactly high art. While his affable charm and rugged masculinity can carry him through most things, I just…

Halfway through submarine thriller Hunter Killer, the missiles start flying and the tensions amp up, and I was left to wonder if it switched directors mid-shoot. The first half of this would-be great sub sub-genre film is a pot boiler with no apparent end-game in mind, where the second half is a rip-roaring, exciting action-packed…