The Robber Surfaces

The Robber, one of the better movies I saw at last year’s Chicago International Film Festival (and one that I certainly did not expect to get a U.S. theatrical release), is opening this week in New York City theaters.  I’m not sure if it will expand to other cities in the coming weeks, but if […]

Hanna (2011)

Hanna has been marketed as a cross between an art house film and an action flick.  While the film definitely boasts a more interesting and eclectic cast than most action movies, it eventually does nothing more than borrow bits and pieces from The Bourne Identity, Run Lola Run, and Léon.  This lack of originality doesn’t […]

Super (2011)

Super is the type of movie that thrills me by its very existence.  It’s a whacked-out burst of intelligent, inventive filmmaking that does a great job of juggling wildly shifting tones while never forgetting where the heart of its story rests.  I watched the film with a huge smile on my face as writer-director James […]

Could The New Superman Movie Actually Be Good?

I just became interested in the new Superman movie. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Michael Shannon has been cast to play General Zod.  I’m not a comic book guy at all, so I can’t tell you how the character fits into the world of Superman.  I have a vague memory of Terence Stamp playing the […]

The Cohen Case Files: Body Snatchers (1993)

Screen Story by Larry Cohen How many film adaptations of Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers are needed?  By the time Body Snatchers was released in 1993 (after sitting on the shelf for roughly two years), there had been two official adaptations and numerous films that had taken inspiration (ripped off) from Finney’s yarn about alien […]

Think of the Children!

Be forewarned, if the MPAA rated this post, it would get an R. Ah, The King’s Speech, the classy little drama about King George VI (Colin Firth) attempting to overcome a speech impediment in time to symbolically lead Great Britain during World War II (I say symbolically because the King of England hasn’t wielded any […]