Review: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) is the same, only much much worse.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2012 136 minutes rated PG-13 by Scott Mendelson It's no secret that I have had major issues with the very idea o...

Good movie news in 2012: The return of the "movie".

I've written a bit about this over the last couple years, but this weekend is surely as shining an example as anything about how the mai...

Patent Zero: Why readily available health care for every person in America, via a nationalized single-payer system, is a national security issue.

I'm certainly glad that the Supreme Court upheld the vast majority of the Affordable Care Act, although once again it is disconcerting t...

Total Recall trailer reminds you that you already saw this damn movie 22 years ago, and it was just fine, thank you!

Yes this trailer looks every bit as bland and generic as the teaser from early April.  And yes the lack of creative imagination that would c...

Why Warner Bros' Lego: The Piece of Resistance may end up being the greatest movie ever made by humans...

Much of this is speculation, so bare with me.   Jeff Snyder over at Variet y reported today that Channing Tatum and Will Arnett have been ca...

Guest Essay: Merrill Barr explains why Comic-Con is a better marketing tool for television than it is for movies.

From time to time, Mendelson's Memos is able to present reviews and/or essays from guest writers, as is the case this afternoon. Merrill...

Alex Cross gets a terribly generic, almost satirical trailer...

It's no secret that I'm a fan of both of the prior Morgan Freeman-starring Alex Cross films.  I enjoyed Kiss the Girls and find Alo...

Review: Ted (2012) is a blisteringly funny and painfully insightful look at generational nostalgia.

Ted 2012 105 minutes rated R by Scott Mendelson Seth MacFarlane's Ted joins the ranks of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Obser...

Informal critical thoughts on The Newsroom pilot.

Yes, there is comic value in this 7-minute super-cut of oft-repeated phrases in the work of Aaron Sorkin.  But it also highlights just how d...

Weekend Box Office (06/24/12): Brave hits the Pixar bulls-eye while Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is (somewhat) staked.

Another year, another $60-$70 million Pixar opening weekend.   Brave  ( review ) is their thirteenth release, as well as their thirteenth nu...

Review: Brave (2012) is Pixar's most impersonal and least consequential film and a more troubling failure than Cars 2.

Brave 2012 93 minutes rated PG by Scott Mendelson Beset by production troubles and changing schedules, Brave enters theaters as a fable with...

Actors Against Acting Athletes with Gary Oldman...

I'm not sure how big of a problem this is offhand ( Space Jam was sixteen years ago and Michael Jordan wasn't half-bad playing hims...

Newsflash: Twilight didn't invent the female-driven blockbuster and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was primarily about romance too...

As expected, the initial wave of mostly positive reviews for The Amazing Spider-Man have partially involved a form of collective amnesia. R...

Good movie news in 2012: the return of R-rated movies.

Normally, I wouldn't be one to consider Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (which to be fair I have not yet seen ) as a shining example of...