Paint It Black with Kevin Bacon in Stir of Echoes

“You’re awake now, Daddy.” Tom and Maggie have just finished moving their growing family into a new house in a working class Chicago neighborhood.  Musician-turned-telephone lineman, Tom, asks his sister-in-law Lisa to hypnotize him at a block party.  A little drunk and more than a little puffed up, Tom thinks nothing will happen.  After all,

Warm Bodies and mmmmm … brains…

Warm Bodies is not your sister’s/girlfriend’s Twilight. Although, at first blush, the similarities between the two films seem easy-pickens for those not in the know. I’ve therefore braced myself for the inevitable and inescapable comparisons. It’s a pity, really, because it takes the focus away from what is a solidly entertaining film. Based on Isaac Marion’s

Is Tom Cruise a reach as Jack Reacher?

Fans of the Jack Reacher series by novelist Lee Child were cheering and jeering last night at a screening of the new Jack Reacher film starring Tom Cruise.  Reacher, an ex-Army military police officer, is a character completely unlike Cruise in almost every way – at least, physically.  Standing at 6′ 5″ and weighing in around 210 – 250 lbs

Writer/director Andrew Dominik hopes to be Killing Them Softly

Andrew Dominik‘s film adaptation of “Cogan’s Trade” is set in the waning days of the George W. Bush administration, against the Hurricane Katrina ravaged back streets of Louisiana. The opening title sequence is a series of seemingly random, jarring images and sounds reminiscent of films from the 70s. It’s two parts brilliant, one part WTF

Excelsior! Silver Linings Playbook Leaves Some Cheering, Others Jeering

Director David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, at first glance, may seem to be your average, run of the mill chick flick rom-com. This will, undoubtedly, send most of the men out there running, failing to return phone calls and text messages inviting this to see this movie. Well, I’m here to tell you DON’T