Not quite as good as the last installment, but still a guilty pleasure.
Generally speaking, I don’t bother to see films with the number 6 after their title. In fact, I usually check out after number 3. I figure such films are critic-proof—either you’re a fan of...
A 14-year-old girl has a summer of self discovery
So, sigh. . . Is there anything more annoying than a glowing review of a film you can’t see? I know, I know. . . But I saw this film at the Maryland Film Festival this weekend and fell in love with...
This Gatsby adaptation says more about its director than the novel.
The official title of Baz Luhrmann’s new film is not Gatsby! or The Great Gatsby 3D or even Baz Luhrmann Presents The Great Gatsby, but it could very well be any one of these things.
The best film...
Smart doc on the rise and fall of Napster
Hey film fans! The Maryland Film Festival starts tonight! This is the last film I’ll be sneak previewing. It’s sort of great.
Before Facebook and Twitter—hell, before MySpace and Friendster—there was...
Beatles fans won't want to miss this documentary about their fan club secretary
Another solid offering from this year's Maryland Film Festival.
When she was 17 years old, Freda Kelly took a job as a secretary—and that job made her the most envied girl on the planet.
You see, her...
On the bureacratic and moral quagmire of developing the site where the Twin Towers once stood
Here's an absolute can't-miss from this year's Maryland Film Festival.
This astonishing documentary—part Greek tragedy and part absurdist comedy—takes a look at the 16 acres in lower...
Can an obsessed gamer ever learn to emerge from the basement and join the real world?
Here's another impressive one from this year's Maryland Film Festival.
Before there was nerd chic, there were just plain old nerds, and they were notorious for engaging in elaborate role-...
A love letter to a true Baltimore original
The wonderful Maryland Film Festival starts next Wednesday. Over the next few days, I'll be posting reviews of select titles from the event.
To those of us from Baltimore, it sometimes seems...
A clever film for dumb people
I'm tempted to call Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain a clever film for dumb people. It operates under the guiding principle that if you put ironic air quotes around everything, you are immune...
Solid sci-fi action flick with a remarkably well-preserved Tom Cruise
There is a lot to celebrate about the new sci-fi film Oblivion.
For one, it is neither a remake, a sequel, nor based on a comic book.
Two, it stars a remarkably well-preserved 50-year-old Tom...
