Author: Jason Zingale

Director Jonathan Levine has tackled some pretty ballsy material in his short career – including the slacker coming-of-age movies “The Wackness” and “50/50” – but “Warm Bodies” is probably Levine’s most adventurous and challenging project yet, if only because the subject matter is about as outside-the-box as you can get. Based on Isaac Marion’s young adult novel of the same name, the movie plays out like “Romeo and Juliet” by way of George Romero, and though it takes quite a few liberties with zombie film mythology along the way, the movie has such a great concept and unique tone that…

There couldn’t be a more suitable way to describe the behind the scenes troubles of “Gangster Squad” than the popular idiom “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Originally scheduled for release last September, the film was delayed following the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado due to a scene in the trailer (which also played in front of “The Dark Knight Rises”) showing mobsters shooting up a movie theater. You can understand why Warner Bros. decided to push back the film’s release in order to reshoot that sequence, because while some have questioned the studio’s sensitive handling of the situation,…

It’s astonishing to think that it’s been eight years since Southeast Asia was rocked by the Indian Ocean tsunami, because it feels like it happened just yesterday. Though there have been several other high-profile natural disasters in that time (including Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled Japan), none of them are quite as unforgettable as the devastation that took place in 2004, particularly due to the many amazing stories of courage and selflessness that were born from one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. One such story serves as the basis of Juan Antonio Bayona’s…

Quentin Tarantino doesn’t make very many films, so when he does release a new one, it’s always met with the same kind of crazed excitement usually reserved for big event movies. His latest feature, “Django Unchained,” marks a few firsts for the director – including the first film not produced by Lawrence Bender (if you don’t count “Grindhouse”) and the first film not edited by longtime collaborator Sally Menke (who unfortunately passed away in 2010) – and though it’s hard to say how much of an effect that had on the finished product, it’s easily one of his weaker movies.…

With the exception of her supporting roles in the two “Meet the Parents” sequels, it’s been 16 years since Barbara Streisand actually starred in a film, so it’s a little surprising that she chose “The Guilt Trip” as her highly anticipated return from semi-retirement. It’s not a bad movie by any means, but it’s one that left me feeling totally indifferent, and you’d expect more from someone as well respected as the veteran actress. A harmless, paint-by-numbers mother-son comedy that has a very been-there, done-that quality to it, “The Guilt Trip” may have sounded funnier on paper, but the film…

Call it the King George VI effect or just pure coincidence, but Roger Michell’s “Hyde Park on Hudson” is the third film in as many years to feature the British monarch in a leading or supporting role. Though Michell’s movie is actually about the 32nd U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, you wouldn’t know it by how effortlessly King George steals the show. Not that it’s very difficult in a film as surprisingly shallow as “Hyde Park on Hudson,” which would rather focus on something as frivolous as an affair than FDR’s many accomplishments as the only four-term president in our…

After years stuck in development hell due to the MGM bankruptcy crisis, the most anticipated prequel to come out of Hollywood since “The Phantom Menace” has finally arrived in theaters, although not exactly in the manner that most people were expecting. For starters, Peter Jackson has returned to the director’s chair after Guillermo del Toro cut his losses to work on other projects (and really, it’s for the better), while two movies have become three after the decision was made to turn “The Hobbit” into its own trilogy. Though it’s a move that reeks of the kind of studio greed…

Whether you love him or hate him, there’s not a single person who could deny Michael Moore’s valid inquiry into the United States’ broken health system. As a citizen whose own health insurance is not only suspect, but also incredibly costly, I’ve had my share of nightmares about leaving the hospital with a telephone book-sized bill in hand, not to mention the direct consequences of paying such a debt. In his latest documentary, “Sicko,” the usually egocentric filmmaker takes a back seat in favor of the subject at hand, and in doing so, offers an intelligent and entertaining look at…

It’s been five years since Andrew Dominik’s historical Western “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” divided audiences, with some calling it a modern masterpiece and others disregarding it as a pretentious bore, so it’s nice to see that his new movie isn’t nearly as polarizing. Though it’s hardly surprising that Dominik would take a similarly unique approach to the gangster genre, “Killing Them Softly” is at least more accessible than his previous work. A gritty and brutal crime thriller that draws allegorical comparisons between mobsters and corporate America, the movie may be a tad too political…

As far as 1980s cult classics go, “Red Dawn” isn’t the most popular film of the bunch, but it is one of the few movies to receive a remake that actually makes some sense. Though the initial idea behind director Dan Bradley’s new version was to replace the Russian baddies from the original with Chinese intruders, after the film was shelved during MGM’s bankruptcy woes, Bradley smartly went back and changed China to the slightly more believable North Korea, which is about as close to a Cold War-esque enemy that this generation has seen. There’s still a large degree of…