Movie Reviews

  Get On Up, story of James Brown by Sandra Olmsted      Director Tate Taylor delicately traces both the sources of James Brown’s musical influences and the reasons for his…

By Sandra Olmsted Writer director Paul Haggis presents a negotiation of grief, guilty, and reality in his latest film, Third Person. Much like his earlier film, Crash (2004), Haggis employs…

by Sandra Olmsted It’s four years later, and dragons have become an integral part of the Berk, Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel) and Toothless’s hometown. While the other graduates of…

By Sandra Olmsted      By definition, a weepie should make the audience’s eyes leak a lot, but sometimes the filmmakers go too far, and audience only gets red eyes and…

By Sandra Olmsted A formula to create a blockbuster film has long been desired by Hollywood, and director Doug Liman and screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, working…

By Sandra Olmstead About the only thing “western” about this travesty of a movie is that it was beautifully shot in Monument Valley by cinematographer Michael Barrett; however, it would…

By Sandra Olmsted In this compelling tale, Maleficent, actually a beautiful young fairy with strong wings that allow her the freedom and joy of flight, has her heart broken by…

By Sandra Olmsted Blended, the first of the truly family films for the summer, delightfully deals with the problems of adults raising children on their own, and Drew Barrymore and…

By Sandra Olmsted Director Amma Asante successfully makes the big leap from TV series to feature films with Belle, which is based on a true story. Belle, played exquisitely by…

By Sandra Olmsted Since director Bryan Singer left helming the X-Men franchise, the story line has fallen into what could be called disrepair, and the characters trapped in a battle…