Biff! Ka-POW!

I really hadn’t given much thought of late to the upcoming film “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” I remember reading that Ben Affleck would be the next in a long line of actors to don the cape and I was left entirely nonplussed at that shred of entertainment news. I grew up adoring Batman …

‘Diviner’ Divine

I’ve looked sideways at Russell Crowe ever since I made the mistake of watching him star in the unintentionally hilarious “Noah” a couple years ago. Nevertheless, this week’s Friday night movie was “The Water Diviner,” reportedly inspired by true events and powered by Crowe who both directed and starred in it. Absent any information, you …

Beyond Pointless

Point of order with regard to the headline/article (screengrabbed at right): I’d be amazed if a studio would dare to call for an embargo of reviews already written. Can you imagine 20th Century Fox ordering the Los Angeles Times not to print its theater critic’s column until the film’s actual release date? The Times would …

‘The Drop’ Is Tops

So this is how I chose to watch “The Drop” last night. First I scanned through the on-demands available, and finding nothing that piqued my interest, I checked out what was on the 10 channels of HBO — but I knew already what was on HBO because practically all they’ve been showing this last few …

Book ‘Em: Search Complete

When I discovered a book review last week about “The Searchers: The Making of An American Legend” by Glenn Frankel, I was already ordering it before I read whether the reviewer thought it was good or not. My motivation wasn’t just my unconditional adoration of John Ford’s 1956 masterpiece, starring John Wayne. It was also …