The cool things about smaller movies is that they’re able to take risks that big budget movies aren’t able to take. With movies that are made with small budgets, you get more room to operate because the level of financial failure will never be all that great if it flops. Plus, it can also end up being a good thing …

Before its release, a substantial amount of coverage of Pan has been based on the casting of Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily. While that can be used to highlight one of the troublesome practices in Hollywood, it also may lead at least some people to become disinterested in this film. As I found out for myself, that’s not the only …

The thunder buddies are back, but unfortunately, lightning doesn’t strike twice for Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg in Ted 2, the lazy sequel to the 2012 hit about a man-child and his foul-mouthed little teddy bear who came to life one day. Not that the first film was some kind of miraculous comic masterpiece; it was messy, episodic and unapologetically …

True Detective is back and already an abundance of ink has been spilled on a variety of topics: the show’s location change, its distracting new theme song, Colin Farrell’s moustache, Vince Vaughn’s turn against type. All worthy subjects. And yet, much like Rust Cohle’s search for the Yellow King, the true story is staring us in the face. For me, the most …

A sharp, breezy take on a Manhattan couple suffering from a mid-life crisis, While We’re Young continues Noah Baumbach’s two-decade long winning streak as one of the most insightful American filmmakers working today. Dating all the way back to his terrific 1995 debut, Kicking and Screaming, Baumbach has been fascinated with characters who are undone by their various anxieties, whether …