Live Free or Die Hard may work better for an audience that doesn't know much about the series is than it will for Die Hard die hards, who will be wondering who that impersonator is and what he did with the real John McClane. The original Die Hard came out of nowhere to blitz the 1988 summer box office. The… — James Berardinelli Copy Share
Seventeen years after its intial release, The Empire Strikes Back is still as thrilling and involving as ever. Because of the high quality of the original product, it doesn't show a hint of dating. Neither [Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope nor Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi] were able to match the narrative scope of Empire,… — James Berardinelli Copy Share
It's rare that the sequel to a good movie lives up to expectations. Such is the case with Die Hard 2, the… — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
There's nothing terribly wrong with The November Man in a serviceable late-night cable TV sort of way but neither is there anything terribly right… — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
Live Free or Die Hard may work better for an audience that doesn't know much about the series is than it will for Die Hard die hards, who will be wondering who that impersonator is and what he did with the real John McClane. The original Die Hard came out of nowhere to blitz the 1988 summer box office. The… — James Berardinelli Copy Share
Parodies are hard to do well, as is shown by the mediocrity of so many recent attempts. No matter how ripe a genre is… — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
Seventeen years after its intial release, The Empire Strikes Back is still as thrilling and involving as ever. Because of the high quality of the original product, it doesn't show a hint of dating. Neither [Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope nor Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi] were able to match the narrative scope of Empire,… — James Berardinelli Copy Share
Despite his reputation as one of America's foremost "serious" filmmakers, Oliver Stone's name under the "director" caption does not guarantee a good movie. I learned that lesson while enduring the seemingly-endless tedium of The Doors, and was reminded of it during some of the long, drawn-out portions of JFK. However, nothing that Stone has directed or misdirected prepared me for… — James Berardinelli Copy Share
The Phantom Menace is not a masterpiece, but it's an example of how imagination, craftsmanship, and technological bravura can fashion superior entertainment out of… — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
The term "godawful" should be used sparingly in connection with motion pictures. With Angels & Demons, however, it seems oddly appropriate. Not only does this prequel-turned-sequel to The Da Vinci Code make its predecessor seem like a masterwork of pacing and plotting, but it may represent a nadir for director Ron Howard and is probably the worst instance of acting… — James Berardinelli Copy Share
John Wick is a rousing action thriller of the sort rarely encountered in theaters these days. — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
For the most part, however, Lady in the Water comes across as a movie that's too bad to be good, and not bad enough… — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
This is as brain-dead as a movie can be and it assumes the audience will have the I.Q. of a rutabaga. — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
Aside from a couple of signature flourishes, there's nothing to mark Paycheck as the product of acclaimed action director John Woo. In fact, there's little about this movie that makes it worth anyone's time and money. With a script that waffles between being hilariously absurd and insultingly stupid, and action scenes that won't cause anyone's pulse to skip a beat,… — James Berardinelli Copy Share
Those who delight in bad movies and enjoy producing their own unfilmed versions of Mystery Science Theater 3000 may gain a measure of semi-masochistic… — James Berardinelli Copy Share Image
