King Kong (1976)

King Kong (1976)

[6] After the world saw its first bona-fide blockbuster, 1975's Jaws, daring Italian movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis decided he needed to go down in history for producing the second one. He settled on a remake of 1933's King Kong and hired…
The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

[7] Cary Grant stars as an angel from Heaven who comes to Earth just before Christmas to help a Bishop (David Niven) and his wife (Loretta Young) raise money for construction of a new cathedral. But Grant has ulterior motives, trying to…
Venom (2018)

Venom (2018)

[7] Tom Hardy stars as an investigative reporter who becomes the unwilling host body for a gloppy alien creature -- named Venom -- that gives him superhuman powers. At first the possession experience is scary, with Venom being very much in charge.…
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

[8] A six-year-old girl lives on a small island called "The Bathtub" in Louisiana, where she lives in squalor with her dying, tough-love father until flooding drives them into their makeshift boat to find food and stable shelter. They band together with…
The Tempest (2010)

The Tempest (2010)

[7] Visionary director Julie Taymor (Titus, Across the Universe) brings Shakespeare's The Tempest to the big screen, with the lead role of Prospero played not by a man, as per tradition, but by Helen Mirren. Mirren's Prospera is raising her daughter (Felicity…
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

[6] There's a certain kind of movie that is really hard to review. This is one of those movies. It's a studio movie, formulaic in structure and unremarkable in substance, but entertaining in laughs and thrills and a great vehicle for a…
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

[6] A big-budget studio action-comedy is one of the least likely candidates to catch my attention these days, but a few people insisted Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a cut above the rest. And while the bar is low, they were…
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

[7] It's best to go into The Rise of Skywalker knowing that this third Star Wars trilogy has never had a strong guiding hand. It's not the result of a carefully premeditated creative effort. Creator George Lucas was not there watching over…
Doctor Sleep (2019)

Doctor Sleep (2019)

[8] Ewan McGregor stars as the grown-up version of Danny Torrance from The Shining. Doctor Sleep is a sequel to that horror classic, both films based on books by the premiere horror writer of our time -- Stephen King. Danny is known…