A lot can change in twenty years.  During the War of 1996 – that’s how the alien attack of the original Independence Day is now described – the Earth looked like the one in which we all lived.  It was recognizable and relatable.  When those ludicrously massive alien spaceships hovered over major cities of the […]

The Jones in the title of the new American civil war drama from writer/director Gary Ross, Free State of Jones, refers not to a character but to Jones County, Mississippi.  This is where real-life, rebellious farmer Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey) lived. Jones County is also where Knight, a southerner, lead an armed rebellion against the […]

As presented in The Neon Demon, the high-gloss, cut-throat setting of the Los Angeles modeling industry is populated with so many despicable, bluntly honest, unfeeling types who treat others like cattle in the worst way, there’s a question you have to ask: Why would any young woman armed with nothing more than a resume and […]

Whatever fun there is to be had with the new buddy action comedy Central Intelligence has nothing to do with the action nor the comedy; it’s the buddy role reversal. Curiously, though interestingly playing against type, Dwayne Johnson is the seemingly crazy one while Kevin Hart plays it relatively straight.  He’s still a motor-mouth but […]