Should have been better. Character drama held back by lack of character.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I sat down to watch Smart People. Based on the trailers I was hoping for a smartly written tale of characters who are intelligent, but still have a lot to learn. That sounds good, but it's not entirely accurate, I think I was more interested in seeing Ellen Page in her first outing since her Oscar-nominated…

A twisted film from early Cronenberg.
David Cronenberg's The Brood is a pretty twisted picture. If you're familiar with his other work, then this won't surprise you. The Brood was made right around the same time as Scanners and Rabid. It's right smack in the middle of when he was making some of his most disturbing films.Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) is the father of a…

…we?re born, we have sex, we have children, we die…
If you search Google on the terms “birth sex death god,” you get 363,000 hits (as of my latest attempt) and adding the unlikely term “Brakhage” to that list returns a still whopping 1,030. Stan Brakhage made 373 films during his life, most very short, all very experimental, and one can certainly describe his body of work as…

One man tries to save the world from our own handiwork.
Imagine a world where you think you're the last one alive. This is what Will Smith thinks in I Am Legend, a movie from Warner Bros. A cure for cancer is found in the not so distant future, but something goes drastically wrong once the cure is used on the entire population. It kills some and turns others into zombies. One man survives along with…

The Fugitive remains of the best dramas in television history.
Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen), falsely accused of murdering his wife, escapes custody while en route to death row and must elude police and Lt. Philip Gerard (Barry Morse), who is consumed with his capture. Kimble must perpetually relocate and change his name while he continues his mission to find the real killer, a one-armed man (Bill Raisch)…

The world’s greatest superheroes come together for the first time… again.
It seems as though the number of "origin stories" in the comic book world vastly exceeds the number of superheroes. It feels as though every few years the origins of our favorite heroes and groups are reexamined, rethought, and retold. Taking these comic book legends and putting them on film (either animated or live action) allows for yet…

A vastly confusing time travel plot doesn’t derail the entertaining performances and action.
You can’t do a time travel story unless you’re willing to take the time to explain the rules clearly. In the fast paced sci-fi thriller, Déjà Vu, Tony Scott speeds though the explanation to get to the rousing car chase sequence and eventual villain showdown. However, as convoluted as the time travel issues are,…

An animated essential.
If there is anyone out there from Warner Bros. reading this, I have a request: please, please, please release Justice League: The New Frontier in theaters. I don't want to live in a world where an animated film the caliber of this latest DC Universe release is simply called a direct-to-video movie.A period animated film set in what was a dead…

This heady stroke of genius packs more zingers than the Hostess brand.
It is a mystery that only a MSTie could know. For the fans of the revolutionary science fiction comedy show Mystery Science Theater 3000: how long has it been since the Peabody Award, or the Emmy Award nominations, or the Siskel and Ebert-approved motion picture release? How long has it been since the culmination of the show's momentous ten…