You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll pay $7 to see Meryl Streep kiss her butt goodbye! There isn’t any living actress on the face of this Earth who can hold a candle to Meryl Streep. She’s truly amazing. She can do anything, and that includes saving the teary-eyed chick flick “One True Thing” from slipping into maudlin. Read the rest of this entry »

Since Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous is set in Las Vegas, it’s almost a safe bet to say the sequel will clean up in theaters. Like tumbling dice, the odds are against anyone hoping to repeat the success of the first roll. After all is said and done, Miss Congeniality 2 craps out. Read the rest of this entry »

Sitting through co-writer/director Bernard Rapp’s delicious thriller “Une Affaire de Gout” reminded me how much better French filmmakers are at creating suspense. While American thrillers are almost always plot driven, most French thrillers are character driven. Like “With a Friend Like Harry,” “Une Affaire de Gout” is about how people react to each rather than to extraneous plot devices like car chases and explosions. Read the rest of this entry »

“Shakespeare in Love” is one of those great, wonderful “what if” movies. What if one of the worlds greatest writers had writers block? What if producing plays in Elizabethan England was the same as hawking screenplays in Hollywood? What if one of the most treasured romantic tragedies of all time was originally called “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter”? Read the rest of this entry »

You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. That is Hollywood’s take on duplicating the cinematic event known as “The Exorcist.” Filmmaker’s are damned if they try, because the effort is always inferior. They’re damned if they don’t because Hollywood loves success and is always trying to find new ways to improve on it. Read the rest of this entry »