Author: Jason Zingale

As far as remakes go, Hollywood has thankfully begun to recreate popular stories from the 1950’s and 60’s, an era of the film industry that produced a lot of solid movies and starred some of the greatest actors of the past 50 years. Adapted from the novel by Elleston Trevor and based on the 1965 original film starring Jimmy Stewart, a remake of “Flight of the Phoenix” isn’t such a bad idea for modern-day audiences because it utilizes the same universal theme of human conflict. The film actually fairs a lot better than past remakes as well, and although it…

In the middle of “Million Dollar Baby,” an aging Clint Eastwood walks through the darkened boxing gym to confront his latest recruit and says: “It’s not about how hard you hit [the bag], but how good the hit is.” And much like the advice of his character in the film, “Million Dollar Baby” knows when and where to throw its punches every time. Eastwood also mumbles a lot of other sports philosophy throughout the film (mostly about always protecting yourself) and if the audience doesn’t take heed to his comments, you’re just as likely to get knocked down along the…

There’s nothing better than a little vampire ass-kicking to light up the holiday season, but unfortunately for fans of the “Blade” franchise, the third (and hopefully final) installment of the heroic bloodsucker just doesn’t have the same bite as its previous chapters. As Marvel’s first successful comic-book-to-film adaptation, the original “Blade” instantly became an underground hit with the sleek, yet comical Wesley Snipes headlining as the title character, and even “Blade II” was more than a mere duplicate thanks to its thorough vampire history, but “Blade: Trinity” is nothing more than a blended carbon copy with a bloodthirsty desire to…

When a particular film has the untapped potential to make quite a rumble during award season, it’s extremely rare to then see that same film wait until the beginning of the year (commonly considered to be dead season) for a major theatrical release. Paul Weitz’s latest lightweight drama, “In Good Company,” is such that kind of film and has plenty to contend for with a smart script and two amazing performances by stars Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace. In lieu of the economic state that the country is currently dealing with, including corporate lawsuits and countless lay-offs, “In Good Company”…

In director Mike Nichols’ latest film, “Closer,” one of his four main characters states that most people “don’t know the first thing about love because [they] don’t understand compromise.” The audience won’t fully appreciate the complete product either if they’re privy to criticizing the realistic approaches Nichols takes in dissecting the human relationship and revealing all of its ugly parts. Brilliantly dark, dirty, nasty, lewd and downright unacceptable for a number of the high-minded individuals that chose to walk out of the screening, “Closer” is a masterpiece in cinema that doesn’t stray from providing the audience with convincingly tense situations…

It’s the end of the summer season and studio execs have one more weekend slot to fill before early Oscar films begin rolling into theaters. Mel Gibson’s name is back in the news with the release of his tremendously successful “Passion of the Christ,” so it only seems logical to release “Paparazzi,” a dense thriller produced by Gibson and directed by his hairdresser, Paul Abascal, that offers no suspense and little action. Realizing the dream of every famous actor, Cole Hauser stars as Bo Laramie, a hot new action hero who’s forced to go into Charles Bronson-mode when his life…

Released in China in 2002, the visually captivating “Hero” was gathering dust in the Miramax vaults (MiramAxe for those savvy to film-geek slang) for two years thanks to the Weinstein brothers, who are notorious for purchasing the rights to sensational international films and then cutting them to pieces in the editing room. Self-proclaimed Asian film buff Quentin Tarantino finally stepped in and took control of the project, presenting the movie to American audiences in a much wider release than originally planned. Fronted by one of the most famous and critically acclaimed directors in film history (Zhang Yimou) and led by…

Over the past years, the historical epic and the biopic have become the laughing stock of Hollywood’s insistent efforts to strike Oscar gold and turn big-budget spending into box office profit. Oliver Stone’s “Alexander” is both a costly epic and an interesting biography, not to mention a miserable attempt at creating a story that can credit the young warrior for some great importance. Stone’s film shows us a lot of different men, including Alexander the Bore, the Not-So-Great and the Lethargic, but he most certainly does not include Alexander the Great. With a three-hour runtime that could have been sliced…

Jerry Bruckheimer’s questionable talent has been measured over the years with a countless collection of action/adventure films that use a simple formula for success: big stars + explosions = box office blockbuster. While the question of whether the aging producer is a no-talent hack or a Hollywood mastermind is uncertain, one thing’s for sure: never walk into a Bruckheimer movie without a giant tub of popcorn. The same goes for his latest flick, “National Treasure,” which, despite including very little in the way of character development, does offer a few academic notes for brainiacs to chew on. Nicolas Cage stars…

Oscar season may be in full swing during the back end of every year, but that doesn’t mean that every film to hit theaters is solid gold – nor does it permit studio heads to slack off on other projects – and Brett Ratner’s (“Rush Hour”) latest comedy caper, “After the Sunset,” is the perfect example. Slipping into theaters as an advertisement powerhouse that hopes to win over a big audience during its first weekend, “After the Sunset” is a carelessly produced piece of crap. Neither an entertaining comedy nor a slick heist film, Ratner tries to cover too much…