It’s difficult to be objective about a war film that receives thunderous applause from hundreds of war veterans and their families.
And, although it’s generally against my better judgment to commend what’s basically a historical romance, I join them in dispensing the accolades.
“Pearl Harbor” proves to be a thing of splendor that recreates all that was [...]

You know you’re not about to see historical accuracy when a 14th century crowd chants and claps to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” at the start of a jousting tournament.
What you do find, however, is a sometimes entertaining film, starring one of Hollywood’s hottest young actors.
“A Knight’s Tale” begins with a problem.
William (Heath Ledger), Wat [...]

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
In the mid-1970s, director Stanley Kubrick came into contact with Brian Aldiss’ “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” a 13-page story originally printed in Harper’s Bazaar.
The story tells of a future world in which three-quarters of the [...]

After a stint in the U.S. Navy as a member of the Combat Camera Group in Vietnam, Gary Graver decided to take a chance on his career.
A longtime admirer of director Orson Welles, Graver called up his idol at his Beverly Hills bungalow and offered his services as a cinematographer.
Welles took the young man up [...]

After last year’s bombastic and CGI-laden “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Ron Howard has returned to classic filmmaking with “A Beautiful Mind,” a probing glance into the mental synapses of mathematics genius and Nobel Prize-winner John Forbes Nash Jr.
“This film is 180 degrees from Grinch,’” said Mike Hill, who has co-edited Howard’s films since 1982. [...]

Comic books and computer games rarely make a smooth transition to major motion pictures. For every “Batman,” there exists a “Barb Wire,” “Punisher” or “Super Mario Brothers.”
“Tomb Raider” has moments of enlightenment, with noteworthy production design, costumes, locations and cinematography; but, overall, it proves a soulless example of Hollywood excess.
The story, which should have provided [...]

Since 1997, Disney has been (gasp) moving away from its standard homogenized look.
The watershed came in the guise of “Hercules,” with animators looking for inspiration not from the studio vaults, but from British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe.
More than artistic style is changing, though. With “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” Disney marks its leap into PG fare with [...]

Director Dominic Sena specializes in slick-looking films that star the hottest properties in Hollywood.
His latest, “Swordfish,” features Hugh Jackman, John Travolta and Halle Berry and delivers a montage that one-ups even “The Matrix.”
Visually, this film can impress, thanks to cinematographer Paul Cameron. So, it’s tragic that Skip Woods’ script rarely moves outside of contrivance territory, [...]

A meteor crashes on Earth, bringing with it alien life forms that undergo evolution at an unprecedented rate, growing from single-celled organisms to carbon-based life forms in a matter of weeks.
When screenwriter Don Jakoby (“Arachnophobia”) conceived this concept, he saw its potential as a horror film.
Hollywood didn’t.
So, with the assistance of script doctors David Diamond [...]

“The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Erebus: Let no such man be trusted.” – William Shakespeare.
“Moulin Rouge” swells with Pan’s flute, captivates with [...]