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If I had to name a favorite contemporary composer of movie scores, it would likely be John Barry (although Jerry Goldsmith would make the decision difficult). Barry has composed some lasting and familiar music over the course of his long career. In...
(500) Days of Summer is a romantic comedy for those who don't often like romantic comedies. Or, to put it another way, it's for those who appreciate the emotions but are unenthusiastic about the clichés and formulas that contribute to the cookie-...
U.S. Release Date: 2009-07-17
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Situations, Profanity)
Genre: ROMANCE/COMEDY
Director: Marc Webb
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
Perhaps Robert Frost put it best when he said, "A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer." Once, practicing law was considered a worthy, honorable career. No longer. In a bloated legal system where technicaliti...
U.S. Release Date: 1979-09-15
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity)
Genre: Drama
Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Al Pacino, John Forsythe, Jack Warden, ...
Never has the teen movie genre been more active than it is today. Seemingly every weekend, there's a new entry, and the solid box office performance assures that there will be many more to come. A trend with recent teen films has been to recycle ...
U.S. Release Date: 1999-03-31
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Content, Profanity)
Genre: ROMANCE/COMEDY
Director: Gil Junger
Cast: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, ...
There have been two exceptional versions of Reginald Rose's teleplay, 12 Angry Men. The first (and better known) was the 1957 adaptation, which starred such luminaries as Henry Fonda, Jack Warden, E.G. Marshall, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, and Lee...
U.S. Release Date: -
MPAA Rating: "NR"
Genre: DRAMA
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Martin Balsam, George Voskovec, Ed Begley, ...
12 Rounds is the unholy stepchild of Die Hard with a Vengeance and Speed, starring a man whose lack of range makes Steven Seagal seem nuanced by comparison. John Cena is so wooden that one worries about his being in scenes with fire for fear that ...
U.S. Release Date: 2009-03-27
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence)
Genre: ACTION
Director: Renny Harlin
Cast: John Cena, Aiden Gillen, Ashley Scott, ...
The reason "body swap" movies (in which someone's mind is transposed into a different body) are so popular is because they are ripe with potential. Unfortunately, that potential is rarely reached. Productions like Big and Prelude to a Kiss are th...
U.S. Release Date: 2009-04-17
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Sexual Situations)
Genre: COMEDY
Director: Burr Steers
Cast: Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, ...
When it comes to 20th century wars, World War I, the so-called “Great War” or “War to End All Wars,” is poorly represented in motion pictures. With the exception of All Quiet on the Western Front, stand-outs about the first conflict of...
U.S. Release Date: 2019-12-25
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Disturbing Images)
Genre: War
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman
On January 1, 1980, I was 12 years old and roughly half-way through seventh grade. It was, as Charles Dickens wrote, "the best of times… the worst of times." Junior high school was hell. In those days (and I suspect it hasn't changed much), ...
The problem with being 13 years old and wanting to go to the movies every weekend was that transportation was an issue. With the nearest theater not within bicycling distance (my preferred means of traveling to most nearby destinations), that meant ...