In addition to being his supposedly last theatrical film director Steven Soderbergh, for a while, would have you believe “Side Effects” could be his best—a complex thriller about psychiatric drugs—only to lose its focus almost entirely and make you wish screenwriter Scott Z. Burns took a shot of Ritalin. Martin and Emily (Channing Tatum and Rooney Mara) are a New York couple with issues. He has just been released from prison for insider

“The Sorcerer and the White Snake” does what so many fairytale romances--“Twilight” and “Warm Bodies," to name a few--don't: it goes big. This 2011 Hong Kong film by Chinese choreographer and action director Ching Siu-Tung a.k.a "Tony Ching," recounts the story of a demon--actually a white snake with the seductive head and shoulders of a woman (Eva Huang)--who falls in love with a poor herbalist (Raymond Lam)

I wish I could have been in on the creative meeting when the producers were discussing titles for this thing. Formerly called “Headshot," before someone presumably thought that title was too sissified, “Bullet to the Head” is about as apt a description for a film as I’ve seen in a while. But for all the empty violence, “B2TH” is still kind of fun and compared to last week's “Parker," its craftsmanship at its best. Sylvester Stallone plays Joe Bobo, a New Orleans

“John Dies at the End” has the spirit, if not always the laughs, of Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy. Don Coscarelli, who has a nearly thirty plus-year career working on B-grade horror films like “The Beastmaster” and Bubba Ho-Tep," has adapted David Wong’s 2004 comic-graphic novel into one messy, freaky, and mind-boggling ride of a movie. Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes are Dave and John, two slacker buddies who take a drug

Terminator, governator, what will we call this new chapter in the life of one of the best action heroes of my generation? What we can be sure of is that Schwarzenegger arrives in another decade coming off much better than he did, as an actor anyway, in the previous one. “The Expendables 2” was a blast and “The Last Stand” is the best starring vehicle he’s had since 1996’s “Eraser." This is a different Schwarzenegger than

Allen Hughes, one half of the directing brothers who did the stylized Jack The Ripper feature “From Hell” and street-life drama “Menace 2 Society," flies solo for “Broken City.” And yet, if his name was not included in the credits you would've never known it. Lacking suspense, style, and the surprise effect "Broken City" falls on its face almost out of the gate. Mark Wahlberg is Billy Taggert, a N.Y. detective who's relieved of

2012, you were very kind to me. I got to do more of what I love--saw over a hundred movies this year, many of them entertaining. Sure, the superhero franchises weren’t as great as their predecessors and 2012 had its share of overrated lightweights, and I had to sit through another "Twilight" movie. But on the plus side, there were a lot of really creative, character-driven efforts (“Silver Linings Playbook," “Looper," “Cabin in the

Anne Hathaway appearing in a musical doesn't surprise me. Her entire Oscar hosting gig felt like a four-hour audition for Glinda the Good Witch in the upcoming movie musical for "Wicked." But who knew she could be so devastatingly good as Fantine, a woman struggling through poverty in France's revolutionary days who winds up forced to sell her teeth, hair and self to support her young daughter Cosette. Hathaway is going to

David Chase has gone from “The Sopranos” to taking a sixties-rock nostalgia trip with “Not Fade Away." It’s a film that knows its subject well enough, and even has E-Street Band member Steven Van Zandt to help pick the bluesy rock-infused soundtrack. And yet I don't know what I'm supposed to take away from the band focused on here. Doug (John Magaro) is a New Jersey kid inspired by The Rolling Stones, and girls, to start a band with

“Promised Land” is the movie that Matt Damon and John Krasinski of “The Office” teamed up to write. Damon was even going to direct at one time before scheduling conflicts encouraged them to bring on Gus Van Sant. Damon is Steven, vice-president of a natural gas company who travels with his partner (Frances McDormand) to the rural town of McKinley in order to buy up people’s land and drill for gas. He promises money