It is an actor's passion to observe the world. It is his art to become what he observes. And finally, it is… — Richard Corliss Actor Copy Share Image
Nixon, with his mellifluous baritone, was a great politician for radio but creepy on TV. — Richard Corliss Creepy Copy Share Image
Hollywood has always seen Sondheim as a caviar brand unsuitable for a popcorn industry. — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
Obamacare notwithstanding, the current president's progressive instincts have been neutered by the rise of the Tea Party and Luddite conservatism. — Richard Corliss Conservatism Copy Share Image
In the greed-is-good tradition of the 'Harry Potter' and 'Twilight' movie franchises, the overseers of 'The Hunger Games' have split the last… — Richard Corliss Book Copy Share Image
Nixon's shifty eyes and perpetual 5 o'clock shadow made him a natural fit for caricatured villainy. — Richard Corliss Eyes Copy Share Image
If the Beatles made England swing for the young, then Bond was a travel-poster boy for the earmuff brigade. The Bond films… — Richard Corliss Beatles Copy Share Image
Before sequels became the most reliable way to make a buck, Bond set the standard for lavish serial adventures. Before Hollywood found… — Richard Corliss Adventure Copy Share Image
Football has end zones and goal posts; basketball has the hoop, and hockey the goal cage. Baseball is the only game with… — Richard Corliss Baseball Copy Share Image
'Blade Runner' was one of several dystopian science-fiction films to tank in the early and middle '80s. 'Tron,' 'The Dark Crystal,' 'The… — Richard Corliss Audience Copy Share Image
Like 'God's Not Dead,' the fundamentalist Christian movie that has become a popular hit, 'Transcendence' is essentially a dramatized debate. And as… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
No question that 'Birdman' is a breathtaking technical achievement, not a stunt. Shot in 30 days after a long rehearsal period, with… — Richard Corliss Achievement Copy Share Image
Casey Kasem not only played the music of the stars, he also reached the sunniest-sounding celebrity on his very own. Listening to… — Richard Corliss America Copy Share Image
The exact meaning of irony is so narrow that the word is hardly worth using; in its broad, current definition, it's a… — Richard Corliss Irony Copy Share Image
Although the Academy prefers their Best Pictures grounded in realism, not fantasy, Lee's 'Life of Pi' win proved that the voters understand… — Richard Corliss Adventure Copy Share Image
A home movie of a fictional home life, an epic assembled from vignettes, 'Boyhood' shimmers with unforced reality. It shows how an… — Richard Corliss Boyhood Copy Share Image
Tarantino's movies are smartly intoxicating cocktails of rampage and meditation; they're in-your-face, with a mac-10 machine pistol and a quote from the… — Richard Corliss Cinema Copy Share Image
The typical baseball play is a pitcher throwing a ball and the batter not swinging at it, while the other players watch.… — Richard Corliss Baseball Copy Share Image
'Birdman' is basically 'All About Eve' - the 1950 comedy about rehearsal rivalries in a Broadway show, and another Best Picture laureate… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
'Under the Skin' is handsome, in a dour way, but inert - a cunning experiment that died in the shooting or on… — Richard Corliss Documentary Copy Share Image
We all recall what is or was important to us and are astonished when it slips other people's minds. Perhaps we dismiss… — Richard Corliss Boyhood Copy Share Image
'Tammy,' the new movie starring, produced, and co-written by Melissa McCarthy, could be an artifact from some alternate universe: the creatures there… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
From her first superheroine role in 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' - which earned $275 million globally in 2001, back when that was… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,' while not nearly the masterpiece proclaimed by many critics, is certainly a fascinating cross-species: a… — Richard Corliss Action Copy Share Image
Icy and earthy, Helen Mirren is a rare, regal presence in a movie age that values the plebeian over the patrician and… — Richard Corliss Age Copy Share Image
The visual palette suggests the creepy pastel paintings of Guy Peellaert (Rock Dreams); the fantasy battles with monsters and samurais echo the… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
In some ways, 'The Little Mermaid' was old-fashioned. Rendered in the hand-drawn style, it was the last Disney animated feature to use… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
After two terms as California's Governator, Schwarzenegger slipped comfortably back into pictures with 'The Last Stand,' a modern Western, then crammed into… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
In 'Serena,' stuff happens, then nastier stuff, without ever engaging the viewer's rooting interest or sick fear. Sometimes it's a question of… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
There are movies whose feel-good sentiments and slick craft annoy me so deeply that I know they will become box-office successes or… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
As the idealized mother, I might choose Irene Dunne as the mother in 'I Remember Mama' who strives and not just cooks… — Richard Corliss Children Copy Share Image
In 'Se7en' and 'Fight Club,' Fincher proved his suave mastery of film violence; in Zodiac, his way of clarifying the many clues… — Richard Corliss Betrayal Copy Share Image
It's nice that established and emerging stars agree to appear in ambitious low-budget films. Such pro-bono work gives the movie a higher… — Richard Corliss Ambitious Copy Share Image
The movie truism is that stars play themselves, while actors play other people - troubled or toxic, and memorably strange. By that… — Richard Corliss Actor Copy Share Image
Disney features, especially the early ones, were horror movies with cute critters: Greek tragedies with a hummable chorus. Forcing children to confront… — Richard Corliss Children Copy Share Image
'The Birth of a Nation' occupies a view of the South not far from Scarlett O'Hara's in 'Gone With the Wind,' and… — Richard Corliss Birth Copy Share Image
It's a fallacy, long rebuffed by science, that humans use only about 10% of their brainpower. But it is true about most… — Richard Corliss Action Copy Share Image
A movie like 'Transcendence' may be pertinent in its political reverberations of all computer data held in a cloud and monitored by… — Richard Corliss Cloud Copy Share Image
A movie like 'Selma' should be a relic in a time capsule from 1965, a clue to how well we heeded King's… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
The 1930s birthed two great agrarian novels: 'Gone with the Wind' from the viewpoint of the ruling class, 'The Grapes of Wrath'… — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
