DARKER, MORE MATURE “DRAGON” SEQUEL SOARS”
By Greg Popil Since “Toy Story” debuted in 1995, Pixar studios has claimed the title of not only the greatest animation studio in the world, but possibly the greatest studio of the modern era. For th...
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MacFARLANE’S “A MILLION WAYS” TAPS UNEXPECTED INFLUENCES
By Greg Popil Let’s get this out of the way: Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of cinematic history is going to hear the term “comedy-western” used to describe Seth MacFarlane’s second feature...
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JOLIE’S STRONG PERFORMANCE FAILS TO PROP UP “MALEFICENT”
By Greg Popil Ever since Disney inexplicably received a billion dollar return on Tim Burton’s painfully dull reimagining of “Alice in Wonderland,” remakes of fairy tales with a modern sensibility have...
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“FUTURE PAST” ELEVATES X-MEN FRANCHISES
By Greg Popil There are compelling arguments to be made for naming any number of movies the “greatest” of the 21st century thus far (I personally would go with “The Prestige.” Feel free to rant at th...
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HISTORY SHOWS AGAIN & AGAIN HOW “GODZILLA” POINTS OUT THE FOLLY OF MEN
By Greg Popil A massive, looming figure towers over the new quasi-remake, sort-of reboot of “Godzilla.” This figure, once reduced to a one-dimensional comedy player, has grown over the years to inspir...
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“NEIGHBORS” FINDS HUMOR IN THE FEAR OF CHANGE
By Greg Popil Over the past decade, both as a writer and actor, Seth Rogen has mined laughs out of the paralyzing fear that comes from the changes inherent in growing up. Beyond their nonstop barrage...
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THE AMAZINGLY OVERSTUFFED SPIDER-MAN SEQUEL
By Greg Popil Spider-Man does look genuinely amazing in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Sequences showing Peter Parker’s alter ego swinging between skyscrapers or sharpshooting web strands to catch bad g...
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INOFFENSIVE “MANSIONS” A FITTING CODA FOR WALKER
By Greg Popil It’s unnecessarily cynical to buy into the old saying that death, for an entertainer, is a good career move, but it’s also hard to deny that an actor’s posthumous work will always be mor...
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IMPOSSIBLE TO “TRANSCEND” DULL STORY
By Greg Popil Since before the time that the Greeks used the tale of Icarus to warn against flying too close to the sun, stories and art have been used as a natural governor on humanity’s desire for p...
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ARONOFSKY’S “NOAH” IS DARING, FLAWED AND AMBITOUS
By Greg Popil At the end of the day, is anyone really more qualified to direct a movie about Noah and the Ark than Darren Aronofsky? More than a few eyebrows were raised when it was announced that t...
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