Superman: The Movie Still Soars
“You Will Believe A Man Can Fly.” That was the promise made by director Richard Donner via the advance advertisements for his ambitious undertaking, Superman: The Movie and it was one that I and thousands …
Cinemascoping
Forget Sarah Marshall? That’s Nearly Impossible to Do.
We’ve all been there — going along in a relationship, thinking everything is hunky dory and then all of the sudden your partner lowers the boom on you. While you’ve been in a state of …
McCarthy’s Second Success: The Visitor
Walter Vale is coasting. Actually, it’s worse than that — he’s drifting aimlessly without purpose. The widower sleepwalks through the college courses he teaches, goes through the motions of trying to learn the piano, the …
Young@Heart Delivers Lessons of Life Through Song
If you like Jack Black’s School of Rock or happened to catch the indie documentary Rock School, chances are you’ll love Young@Heart. While it focuses on the other end of the age spectrum, Stephen Walker’s …
Chiwetel Ejiofor: Training for Life in Front of the Camera
Filmgoers probably first became aware of English actor Chiwetel Ejiofor in Love Actually. While his scenes as Keira Knightley’s husband were few, the actor made a definite impression on viewers and filmmakers alike as he …
Under the Same Moon: A Blatant Heartbreaker
Director Patricia Riggen sets out moving you to tears from the very first moment in her Under the Same Moon, an independent film that has become something of a hot button issue for paranoid conservatives …
Ebertfest — Staying True to its Roots
Roger Ebert is set to host his 10th annual film festival and among the subjects to be viewed at Champaign’s Virginia Theatre will be a big green monster, a serial killer, underworld thugs and a …
The Counterfeiters
When someone says that there is a new film based on the Holocaust that you just have to see, most potential viewers equate this with their reaction to having to eat their broccoli as a …
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: A Harrowing Look at a Controversial Subject
In a day and age in which so many films are as disposable as yesterday’s newspaper, Cristian Mungui’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a work that haunts you long after its final …
A Day with Miss Pettigrew is Simply Charming
Revisiting movies genres from yesteryear is harder than it looks. Sometimes you cast the film just right, get the look of the period down to a tee and even manage to recreate the story elements …