Tom Cruise is back. In this big budget flick directed by Pixar favorite Brad Bird (Ratatouille and The Incredibles), Cruise sets out to restore his place in the pantheon of larger-than-life action heroes. Of course he does it with the help of a few costars because the team is the best part of a Mission: Impossible movie. The worst part about reviewing them is the colon any time you type the name.                ...

Real Steel is about robot boxing. It’s not a premise that gets me extremely excited but I decided to watch anyway to pass the time. Perhaps because of my low expectations, I ended up being pleasantly surprised. The director has added a flavor to this seemingly cookie-cutter movie that increases its enjoyability. To begin with, this sci-fi romp spends most of its time following around its protagonist, Charlie Kenton (Hugh...

Mel Gibson is something of a pariah in the film world these days. His antics off-screen have ostracized him in much the same way Tom Cruise was shunned until he arrived on the scene again by jumping out the window of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Gibson has tried to overcome his struggles through film as well as evidenced by The Beaver which I have yet to see – although I do plan to check out this strange film about a divorcee...

     I've never been a baseball fan. When my Yankee or Red Sox fan friends go insane during the season, I usually roll my eyes and see if there's something else on to keep me occupied for the next three hours. Moneyball didn't make me love the game. It did however make me appreciate the people who work to bring their team to victory. Based on a book of the same name, this game is not really about the athletes...

     Margin Call describes itself as a movie about the 2008 financial meltdown but it is both less and more than that. We follow one day in the lives of employees at the lowest and highest echelons of a company that very obviously stands in for Lehman Brothers. The movie's director, J.C. Chandor, goes so far as to have the CEO of the company be named Tuld (sounds similar to Fuld - Lehman's CEO at the time)....

     The Ides of March is directed by George Clooney. The screenplay, adapted from the play “Farragut North” is also co-written by him. The movie as whole, however, belongs to Ryan Gosling. Perhaps that’s why it begins with him walking onto an empty stage under a spotlight and ends the same way. It’s a testament to his acting that without a single word he shows off his youthful exuberance in the first scene...