The Lego Movie (2014)

Everything in "The Lego Movie" is, indeed, awesome. Awesome as in imagine if "Toy Story" were spoofed by Mel Brooks after he ate magic mushrooms while reading George Orwell's 1984. Awesome as in the sort of silly yet wily kid-appropriate PG-rated performance by Will Ferrell that you've been waiting for ever since "Elf" came out more than a decade ago. Awesome as in geeking out over the sight of a grim little Batman hitching a ride on...

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Moon (2009)

Is "Moon" evoking "2001," or does its mining outpost on the far side of the moon simply happen to date back to the "2001" era (which was of course eight years ago)? I lean toward the second theory. After the mission carrying Dave Bowman disappeared beyond Jupiter, mankind decided to focus on the moon, where we were already, you will recall, conducting operations. In "Moon," the interior design of the new lunar station was influenced by...

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The Other Woman (2014)

Nick Cassavetes hasn’t exactly made his name with laugh riots. The son of John Cassavetes, he’s probably best known for directing such weepy melodramas as the massively successful "The Notebook" (2004) as well as "My Sister’s Keeper" (2009), in which adorable Abigail Breslin seeks emancipation from her parents so she no longer has to help keep her leukemia-stricken sister alive. (Bring tissues.) So it’s surprising that "The Other Woman"...

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Divergent (2014)

"Divergent" is all about identity—about searching your soul and determining who you are and how you fit in as you emerge from adolescence to adulthood. So it's all too appropriate that the film version of the wildly popular young adult novel struggles a bit to assert itself as it seeks to appeal to the widest possible audience. It's the conundrum so many of these types of books face as they become pop-culture juggernauts and film franchises:...

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Blue Ruin (2014)

The beauty of film festivals is that the vast majority of the movies exist outside the vacuum of movie blogs, magazines, and water cooler conversations. They’re unknown quantities, and while many are destined to stay that way, each year a handful of titles explode from the periphery to mesmerize, entertain, and impress unsuspecting viewers. Welcome to Blue Ruin. Dwight (Macon Blair) is a bit of a loner. He lives in his car,...

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Rob the Mob (2014)

In 1991, as New York City stopped in its tracks to follow the trial of mob boss John Gotti, a story briefly took over the front pages, a sideshow to the main event: a crazy in-love couple from Queens, taking advantage of the chaos in the organized crime world, started holding up various Mafia social clubs, pocketing the cash. They knew the Mob wouldn't contact the police. And was it really a crime to steal from such obviously bad guys...

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Hercules Reborn (2014)

Hercules Reborn is a production of The Asylum—a film production company known for making so-called ‘mockbusters’.  These mockbusters are films that are released to coincide with the release of big studio epics in order to capitalize on the hubbub surrounding the big-budget movies.  They feature titles that are VERY similar to the bigger films, but you wouldn’t ever mix up these films with the originals!  I’ve reviewed a...

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Need for Speed (2014)

In "Need for Speed," a character cites the oft-quoted phrase that a man in a big, flashy, expensive car "is overcompensating for something." The same can be said for this movie. It wears on its sleeve the desperation of trying to create another macho racing franchise like "The Fast and the Furious." That series had six movies to create, shape, modify and solidify its mythology. With five fewer tries, "Need for Speed" aims for "F&F's"...

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