MOVIE REVIEWS: THE DEBT

The season of the superhero has ended; it’s time for ordinary, thinking folks to populate the screens of movie theaters across the country again. Such is the case with The Debt, starring Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, and Tom Wilkinson. Virtually all the critics are giving it positive reviews — some more positive than […]

PENTHOUSE FOUNDER GUCCIONE DEAD AT 79

Bob Guccione, who in 1969 one-upped Playboy magazine with his Penthouse magazine featuring full-frontal female nudity, has died in Plano, TX of cancer at age 79. The magazine also published numerous investigative features, the most famous of which brought down millionaire televangelist Jimmy Swaggart in 1989. Guccione also tried his hand at movie production, infamously […]

JACKASS 3D GOES INTO THE RECORD BOOKS

Although some box-office watchers had predicted that Jackass 3D would not meet studio estimates of a $50-million weekend, the movie came in right on the money, toppling The Social Network from the top of the heap after three weeks. It was the most ever earned by a movie opening in October; indeed it was the […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: RED

Want to know whether RED is worth seeing? Well, you’re not going to get much help from the critics, most of whom are clearly ambivalent about it. For example, Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times concludes: “RED is neither a good movie nor a bad one. It features actors we like doing things we wish […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: “LOVE RANCH”

Love Ranch is based on the real-life story of the folks who in 1967 opened the Mustang Ranch in Nevada, that state’s first legal brothel. It stars Helen Mirren as the ranch’s madam — and she gets far better critical notices than the movie itself. Stephen Holden in the New York Times remarks that Mirren […]

STUDIOS EXPECTING FABULOUS FOURTH

The Fourth of July weekend is likely to produce — by far — the biggest box-office grosses of the year. Summit Entertainment launched the third installment of its Twilight franchise at midnight last night (Tuesday/Wednesday), amid expectations that it will sell $150-million worth of tickets by Monday. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse collected $30 million, the […]