Review: 'Black or White' starring Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer

Let's be frank about Mike Binder's interracial dramedy, Black or White; it's absolutely ridiculous in just about every way imaginable. Whether as a vehicle to talk about race relations or as a courtroom film about a tangled custody battle, the film is utterly preposterous and pretty damned insulting. Coming on the heels of a comedy like Dear White People, which used comedy to ask serious and contemporary questions about race, Black or Whiteseems...

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Review: 'Black Sea' starring Jude Law and Scoot McNairy

They say in space no one can hear you scream, but the same can be said of the inky ocean depths. The best submarine movies tap into the visceral tension and paranoia of being trapped in a metal tube hundreds of feet underwater, but despite a number of classics such as Das Boot, Crimson Tide, and Run Silent Run Deep the genre is pretty much a dying breed drowning in homage. While Kevin MacDonald's Black Sea doesn't go far enough in trying...

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The Long-Awaited First Trailer for 'Fantastic Four' is Here!

Here it is! After months of literally nothing from Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot, yesterday we got our first official set photo and now the trailer has arrived weeks ahead of schedule. From the beginning it's been clear that Trank was working from a very different version of Marvel's "First Family" than fans were accustomed to, and with the melancholic, deep sci-fi flavor of this trailer he seems to have hit the nail on the head. And the best...

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Julia Roberts Remaking 'Batkid Begins'; Adam Sandler Casts 'Ridiculous 6'; Margot Robbie has 'Dangerous Odds'

Last weekend the inspirational documentary Batkid Begins made its debut at the Slamdance Film Festival here in Park City, and already there's good news about the movie's future prospects. Before the premiere even rolled, Julia Roberts had signed on to produce and star in a narrative remake of the film which centers on 5-year-old Miles Scott, a leukemia patient whose Make-A-Wish to be Batman for a day was granted. It became a national sensation with...

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Emma Watson is Belle in Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast'

It seems Emma Watson just can't stay away from Beauty and the Beast. Awhile back she was attached to lead a version of the fairy tale led by Guillermo Del Toro, but that project never got moving. Now she's back in the lead role once again, only this time it's for Disney and director Bill Condon.Because, obviously, she's not going to be playing a furry beast (although that would be interesting in a way?), Watson will take on the role of Belle in Beauty...

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Sundance Review: 'Mississippi Grind' starring Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds

Maybe we're witnessing the rebirth of the modern gambling movie? Just weeks after Mark Wahlberg's remake of The Gambler, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden are giving us another look at those who like to risk it all in Mississippi Grind, a film about two guys teetering on opposite ends of Lady Luck's scale. Fleck and Boden, who excelled with the Ryan Gosling-led character drama Half Nelson, won modest praise for the documentary Sugar, and were completely...

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Sundance Review: 'Bob and the Trees' Directed by Diego Ongaro

How much is the cost of lumber nowadays? What's the harm in a broken wood chipper, or a sick cow? If there's a termite infestation in a few trees what's the big deal? On their own these things don't seem like they have the interest level to make for much of a big screen drama, but that they somehow make for compelling entertainment in Diego Ongaro's Bob and the Trees is a credit to him and the central performance by star Bob Tarasuk.Set in the dense...

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