The Karate Kid 

Teenager Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) moves with his mother to California, meets a girl, makes enemies with the young members of a local karate dojo, and befriends a mysterious, elderly…

Creed 

Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the son of legendary heavyweight champ Apollo Creed, talks his father’s one-time rival and best friend Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) into training him. After six…

The Greatest Show on Earth

Often labeled one of the worst Best Picture Oscar winners ever, this look at all the drama behind the scenes of a big top circus still is a grand epic.…

Titanic: A Wreck Comes Alive

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Photo: 20th Century Fox Twentieth Century Fox wasn’t sure about letting James Cameron make an epic movie about the 1912 sinking of Titanic – especially…

Spotlight: Breaking a Catholic Curse

Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Brian d'Arcy James, Michael Keaton and John Slattery. Photo: Open Road Films There’s a scene near the end of the film that will get the adrenaline…

Downton Abbey: An Empire in Change

Photo: ITV I’ve lost count of how many times various actors have come to my country to promote a new season of Downton Abbey. It hasn’t always been the biggest…

All the King’s Men: A Populist Menace

Broderick Crawford. Photo: Columbia In other reviews I’ve previously used the example of John Wayne at his most reactionary. Well, this is no exception. He was considered for the lead…

Joyeux Noël: One Night of Peace

Photo: Sony Pictures Classics 2015 has in many ways been an awful year, with heinous terrorist acts, a never-ending war in Syria, a refugee crisis in Europe, and a resurgent…

The Martian: Left Behind

Matt Damon. Photo: 20th Century Fox If you’ve ever been to Wadi Rum in Jordan, you’ve been to Mars. The valley has been Hollywood’s favorite location for movies set on…

Black Mass 

In the late 1970s, the FBI makes a deal with up-and-coming Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp); in exchange for information on his rivals, the authorities turn a blind…