Note: my review is of the regular version of the film as I did not see it in 3D. I have had to read The Great Gatsby in both high school and college so it was a story that was burned into my subconcious. … more
I don't know what the critics were saying in their preliminary reviews. I loved this film from start to finish and am looking forward to the next installment. As the whole universe changed … more
I'm taking a risk in saying I actually liked Star Trek into Darkness. On a website such as Lunch.com where liking just about any damn mainstream movie (let alone J.J. Abrams) is considered not … more
Star Trek (2009) re-ignited the Trek world and set it on fire. Loved it or hated it, no one can deny what a reboot and shot in the arm it was for what was a tired series. The worst thing that … more
It took time for me to get into The Office. Years, in fact. I had heard all the hype about how great it was ever since it first began airing in 2005, and I had tried to take in the occasional episode. … more
Cops and robbers is a genre that almost goes into very familiar territory whenever a film gets released. Director David Armstrong’s “Pawn” is really no different, and yet it tries something … more
When I saw the first Flower and Snake film, I became impressed with the lengths Aya Sugimoto, a popular pop star/model would go to make that film. Despite its multiple scenes of sexual intercourse and … more
By Joan Alperin Schwartz The boys are back...Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho) and Uhura (Zoe … more
Even if you pride yourself on possessing intimate knowledge of the happenings within the computer generated animated feature film industry, there’s a pretty good chance 2008’s Dragon Hunters … more
Korean films always carry a certain theme even when they are making a film about cops and robbers. They always seem to have the ability to create interesting characters that can easily be related to. … more
I am rather weary of all the mainstream Hollywood films and so I’ve decided to skip “The Great Gatsby” and instead went to check out a film in the independent horror circuit. Having … more
Young Pip has a hard life: His parents have died, he lives with his shrewish sister, and he's destined to be a lowly blacksmith. Fate smiles on him, however, when a mysterious old lady pays him to … more
Will (Daniel Craig) retires to live in his dream house with his family, but scary things start happening; it turns out the last residents were murdered and now someone is after his wife and kids. … more
Getting the most out of Shanghai Knights involves ignoring a few bad storytelling tropes which are played all the up to eleven: The martial artist going out to avenge his dead father, the whole younger … more
Lois Lane is kidnapped by a small terrorist group which ends with her rescue by Superman and his cousin Supergirl. Later as Clark Kent, he's notified of an object that has entered Earth … more
While Hollywood studios adapt comic books with changes to what their essences are, Warner Bros. animation (DCAU) chooses to adapt stories straight from the comic books. After the impressive two-part adaptation … more
Everyone appreciates a good cop story, and the Chinese are no different. Those dedicated investigators who stick it out through thick and thin to get to the bottom of things are … more
I’ve no doubt that the appearance of Jack the Ripper on the streets of Whitechapel deliberately played a hand in the development of forensic sciences. Plenty has been written … more
It isn't exactly a secret that Jean-Claude Van Damme may be the worst actor to ever walk this planet. But anyone complaining about the performances in a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie is missing the entire … more
I love monster movies. Always have. I probably always will. As a critic, I tend to give them a bit of a pass when it comes to being hard on them, and that’s … more
Jon Favreau’s first two Iron Man films were more or less mixed bags for me. While I thought the first movie lacked ambition and did not take any risks, the screenplay and the direction was steady … more
Whip (Denzel Washington) is a pilot who is shown that he is both a heavy drinker and a cocaine user. He heads to work and right after take-off the plane is hit with an incredible amount of turbulance. … more
I can't be the only one who got a Dark Knight Rises feel from this can I? Third time out for Iron Man in his solo series and the biggest thing that this movie has going for … more
One of the things that we critics do from time to time is we check out what our competition is saying. There’s nothing wrong with knowing what others thought of a particular motion … more
A number of years ago, a few friends and I online got into a debate about Syfy (formerly known as the SciFi Channel). We were heatedly arguing the merits of the usual Saturday … more