Popcorn and Pen

Will Smith is the undisputed king of the Fourth of July weekend movie blockbuster — and this year isn’t likely to be any different. His previous box office smashes include “Independence Day” in 1996, “Men in Black” in 1997, and “Men in Black II” in 2002 – all of which have grossed more than $50 [...]

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The geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios (“Toy Story,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles” and “Cars”) decided to venture down a new path with its recent release “WALL-E.” While still creating a loveable main character, the studio also hits on the controversy of consumerism, pollution and global corruption.
Its 800 years in the future and mankind has left [...]

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Surprisingly, “Wanted” isn’t the shoot-em-up film one would expect after watching its trailer. That’s not to say there isn’t a ton of violence, blood splattering and gun firing in the film, it’s just not “Rambo: First Blood Part II.”
It is the  protypical guy movie - one created by guys, designed for guys and watched by [...]

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The fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” is both a mix of delight and disgust.
The characters remain true to who they always were and a few new ones are intriguing, but then the plot takes an unexpected and unwanted twist from “Indiana Jones” to “Star [...]

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As I child, I was never very into comic books. Instead, a majority of my allowance and loose change went into buying and collecting baseball cards. So going into “Iron Man,” I couldn’t tell you who his enemy was, what his special powers were or any basic info about the self-made superhero – although, I [...]

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If you’ve seen the previews, there is nothing that surprising when writer and main character Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) stands in all his glory. As comical as it’s meant to be, Segel comes off more embarrassed due to the scenarios (yes, there’s more than one) in which he finds himself in the buff.
At the beginning, [...]

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‘Sweeney Todd:
Deamon Barber of Fleet Street’

Basics: After years in exile for a crime he didn’t commit, Sweeney Todd, a.ka. Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), returns to London to find his wife dead and his daughter in the hands of the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), the same man who sentenced Barker.
Sweeney Todd opens a barber shop [...]

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“SemiPro” features fancy dribbling and passing like the American Basketball Association, but unlike the high point totals in the deceased sports league, nobody actually scores (any laughs) in the film.
Just the shorts, the list of jokes is pretty small in Will Ferrell’s “SemiPro.”

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Mark 2007 as the year Academy Awards voters turned a blind eye to box office numbers. 
The top 10 grossing films of last year - “Spider-Man 3,” “Shrek the Third,” “Transformers,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “I Am Legend,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “National Treasure: Book of [...]

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“Jumper” may be the high point of the film industry in 2008. But that’s like saying Dwayne Wade is the best player on the Miami Heat. Who cares who the best player is on an NBA team dead last in the league with a 9-42 record?
So why should we care that “Jumper” has set the [...]

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