Shazam! (2019)
Billy Batson is a trouble-making fourteen-year-old living in a foster home in Philadelphia, having been abandoned by a young mother he’s been searching for since she left him at a crowded carnival many years...
Billy Batson is a trouble-making fourteen-year-old living in a foster home in Philadelphia, having been abandoned by a young mother he’s been searching for since she left him at a crowded carnival many years...
2010s / Drama / Fantasy / Superhero / Thriller
by Vincent Leo · Published January 21, 2019 · Last modified January 22, 2019
Glass serves as a sequel to two films from M. Night Shyamalan, 2000’s Unbreakable and 2018’s Split, the latter of which tied itself to the former with the post-end title stinger. Bruce Willis makes his return as...
I went out on a bit of a limb in proclaimingFruitvale Station the best film of 2013. It was the debut film of previously unknown director Ryan Coogler, and yet, no other film moved me...
2000s / Science Fiction / Thriller
by Vincent Leo · Published June 15, 2008 · Last modified January 6, 2020
If I had thought, even for one second, that writer-director M. Night Shyamalan was making a spoof of end-of-the-world sci-fi thrillers from the 1950s, I might give The Happening much more credit than I’ll be...
The seed of inspiration for Rocky was planted on March 24, 1975. Sylvester Stallone attended a closed-circuit Los Angeles movie theater presentation of Chuck Wepner fighting Muhammad Ali. Severe underdog Wepner wasn’t expected to...
by Vincent Leo · Published August 24, 2006 · Last modified November 19, 2019
Inspired by a true story (aka 99% fiction), 10th and Wolf derives its title from the names of the streets that cross in the predominantly Italian neighborhood in Philadelphia where the main characters of the...
Although M. Night Shyamalan is a very talented writer and director, his films are becoming progressively more ambitious, and unfortunately, progressively tricky to suspend disbelief in. Lady in the Water is his most ambitious film yet,...
As Sylvester Stallone approached closer to completing production on Rocky, he conceived that he would like to make it a trilogy, if it proved successful. It was too difficult to relate the full story...
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.