Love Actually 

Writer Richard Curtis’s directing debut is one big, loveable mess, a romantic comedy with a huge cast of people who keep falling in love with each other. There are too…

Batman & Robin

This time, Batman comes with a personal credit card. Opus #4 threw in too many stupid one-liners and ridiculous gadgets. This is essentially a (less than hilarious) comedy that doesn’t…

Batman Forever

The third Batman film saw Tim Burton handing over directing duties to Joel Schumacher who brought some light into this franchise. It became more kiddie-oriented, the dialogue had more laughs…

Batman Returns 

The Caped Crusader returns, ready to do battle with the Penguin (Danny DeVito), a freak who has risen from Gotham City’s sewage works, and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is intrigued…

Batman: The Jack Nicholson Show

Michael Keaton. Photo: Warner Tim Burton, a former Disney animator and director of a wild horror comedy called Beetlejuice (1988), suddenly found himself helming a major blockbuster. He carried a…

Shaun of the Dead 

As zombies invade London, a ne’er-do-well (Simon Pegg) takes charge of a group of survivors who are headed for a pub they assume is a safe haven. This well-made spoof…

Spirited Away: Never Forget Your Name

Photo: Ghibli After making Princess Mononoke (1997), director Hayao Miyazaki, one of Japan’s most celebrated artists, looked forward to retiring after a prosperous career. But a guy who’s only pushing…

Batman Begins: A Very Dark Knight

Christian Bale. Photo: Warner As it turned out, the definitive adaptation of “Batman” was not made in 1989. The Tim Burton movie showed a Caped Crusader quite different from the…

Shakespeare in Love: Bringing the Bard to Life

Gwyneth Paltrow. Photo: Miramax Let’s say William Shakespeare knew how to time travel. Let’s say he came to 1998, went to the movies and saw John Madden’s film Shakespeare in…

War of the Worlds 

When tripods taller than buildings suddenly burst out from under the ground and start blasting everything and everyone to pieces, Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) grabs his kids and runs for…