2010s / Comedy / Family / Fantasy
by Vincent Leo · Published December 24, 2014 · Last modified July 13, 2018
From the appearance of the terrible pratfall-filled trailer, Paddington would appear like one of those anthropomorphic misfires in the vein of Kangaroo Jack or Yogi Bear. The film had some dubious press in the late days of its production...
2010s / Comedy / Family / Musical
by Vincent Leo · Published December 12, 2014 · Last modified August 15, 2018
Annie is 2014’s updating of the 1982 musical directed by John Huston, which itself had been based on the Broadway musical adaptation of the Harold Gray comic strip, “Little Orphan Annie”, but with more glitz and modern...
2010s / Action / Adventure / Animation / Comedy / Family / Science Fiction / Superhero
by Vincent Leo · Published November 7, 2014 · Last modified January 5, 2019
Like most superhero projects that are put up on the big screen, Disney’s Big Hero 6 has its origins from the world of comic books, though this take is very loosely adapted from its inception in...
“A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing” This anonymous quote comes from something written on a note-card taped to the dressing room mirror of Birdman‘s protagonist, Riggan Thomson (Keaton, Need for...
by Vincent Leo · Published October 11, 2014 · Last modified January 15, 2020
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a loose Disney adaptation of the 1972 children’s book by Judith Viorst, expanded greatly to fill up a (still short-ish) full-length run time. In...
by Vincent Leo · Published October 10, 2014 · Last modified February 13, 2019
Joe Carnahan is a director with talent for action, grit, and thrills in movies like Narc and The Grey, but if there’s anything we’ve learned from watching such efforts as Blood Guts Bullets & Octane, Smokin’ Aces, and The A-Team, it’s...
by Vincent Leo · Published October 8, 2014 · Last modified April 19, 2019
Simon Pegg (The Boxtrolls, The World’s End) stars as the titular Hector, a psychiatrist whose life is so predictable and routine to the point where he feels he has squeezed out any ability to be...
Kevin Kline (The Last of Robin Hood, Last Vegas) stars as Matthias ‘Jim’ Gold, an American approaching his 60s without much to be proud of in his life (except three divorces and a stack of...
2010s / Action / Comedy / Science Fiction / Superhero
by Vincent Leo · Published August 1, 2014 · Last modified July 4, 2018
Peter Quill (Pratt, The LEGO Movie) was a young boy in 1988 when he was abducted by an alien spacecraft flying overhead. He has spent the next few decades working as a ‘junker’ as part of...
1980s / Comedy / Family / Musical
by Vincent Leo · Published June 15, 2014 · Last modified August 15, 2018
Annie is a musical that has become a fan favorite for those who grew up watching it, though film critics in general have remained rather tepid toward it, citing that it is overblown and clunky. ...
Reviews from film writer Vince Leo, covering all eras and genres of films from classics to the latest releases.
Film reviews from Vince Leo, from classics to new releases, since 1996.
