The Blues Brothers (1980)
The Blues Brothers ranks among my favorite films of all time — not the best, just a favorite. With inspiration that never remotely comes close to ceasing, John Landis’ wildly over-budget film is more an experience...
1980s / Action / Comedy / Musical
by Vincent Leo · Published January 12, 2019 · Last modified January 14, 2019
The Blues Brothers ranks among my favorite films of all time — not the best, just a favorite. With inspiration that never remotely comes close to ceasing, John Landis’ wildly over-budget film is more an experience...
1980s / Comedy / Horror / Musical / Science Fiction
by Vincent Leo · Published July 4, 2018 · Last modified July 10, 2018
Little Shop of Horrors is based on the long-running off-Broadway musical of 1982 with music from Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Produced by David Geffen (who also produced this film), which itself...
1980s / Adventure / Animation / Family / Fantasy
by Vincent Leo · Published June 5, 2018 · Last modified July 4, 2018
I realize that the age demographic for My Little Pony: The Movie is far below my current age, predominantly aiming at kids below perhaps ten years old, but when you’re a dad with a...
1980s / Adventure / Animation / Family / Fantasy / Musical / Romance
by Vincent Leo · Published April 14, 2018 · Last modified July 11, 2018
Turning around the reputation of Disney animation in 1989, The Little Mermaid, the studio’s loose and much more upbeat take on the Hans Christian Andersen tale originally published in 1837 that looked to restore their more...
1980s / Adventure / Family / Fantasy / Musical
by Vincent Leo · Published November 3, 2017 · Last modified July 24, 2018
Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Hulk) is cast in one of her first starring roles as Sarah, a teenage girl who has grown tired of her stepmother and father leaving her home alone to babysit...
1990s / Animation / Family / Fantasy / Musical / Romance
by Vincent Leo · Published March 20, 2017 · Last modified July 10, 2018
A key entry in the Disney revival of the 1990s, Beauty and the Beast retells the old French fairytale, originally written centuries before, to a new generation. Paige O’Hara voices Belle, a provincial French...
by Vincent Leo · Published February 3, 2017 · Last modified January 22, 2019
Over the many years of reviewing films, the one blind spot I’ve had when it comes to the kinds of movies I regularly partake in is the musical. In fact, in my original review...
2010s / Drama / Musical / Romance
by Vincent Leo · Published December 20, 2016 · Last modified July 25, 2018
Emma Stone (Aloha, Irrational Man) stars as a struggling actress named Mia, who works as a barista in a coffee shop on the Warner Bros. lot, in between auditions that only serve to make her...
2010s / Adventure / Animation / Family / Fantasy / Musical
by Vincent Leo · Published November 25, 2016 · Last modified July 16, 2018
Moana (Cravalho, her debut) is the chief’s daughter within her tribe on the New Zealand island of Motunui. Unlike most girls in her Maori village, she is destined to be the chief of her...
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...
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.