Knives Out Delivers Top-Shelf Entertainment As Delectable As A Donut Hole

As Knives Out begins, the various members of the Thrombey family are being interviewed by police officers about the recent death of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). Such interviews are being treated as just a formality given that Harlan Thrombey died by way of suicide, but listening in on these interviews is a man who believes there is something bigger going on here with this elderly mystery book author's demise. That man is none other than Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), an ultra-Southern individual who suspects murder could be behind the death of Harlan Thrombey. Who could be behind it? Well, there's no shortage of suspects within the Thrombey family, his descendants are quite the eclectic group of people each with their own ax to grind.

Even This James Bond Novice Was Floored By Casino Royale

Come 2006, it was time for James Bond to get an upgrade. The Pierce Brosnan era of the character had come to an end four years prior and MGM/EON were eager to address audience complaints that had emerged in response to the last Brosnan Bond movie, Die Another Day. Just like how the prior year's Batman Begins had approached Batman, this new take on James Bond, which would be called Casino Royale, was looking to go back to the very beginning of a cinema icons career and see what informed their personality. Also like Batman Begins, Casino Royale ended up being a big moneymaker that not only revitalized an aging franchise but also stands up as just a great film even when separated from the larger franchise it exists in.

Even By The Low Standards of Video Game Movies, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Is A Boring Bust

Today, Alicia Vikander's new take on the character of Lara Croft debuts in theaters nationwide. I won't be able to see that new Tomb Raider movie for a few days, but for now, I can offer my two cents on the very first time Lara Croft came to the big screen back in June 2001. To this day, this feature, entitled Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, is still the biggest video game movie of all-time domestically and it's hard to say if anything in the near future will be able to usurp it for that title. Even in among the dismal pantheon of video game movies, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a particularly tedious motion picture that manages to make Prince of Persia: Sands of Time look like some kind of masterpiece by comparison.

No Easy Answers to Brutal Questions Can Be Found In Munich

Back in 2005, Steven Spielberg delivered two motion pictures that managed to crystallize different aspects of how 9/11 impacted America. The first, War Of The Worlds, was a harrowing motion picture that managed to capture just what it was like to be an ordinary American citizen that suddenly found themselves thrust into the middle of an attack larger than anything they could have imagined. Six months after War Of The Worlds, Spielberg's second directorial effort of the year would arrive in the form of Munich, which paralleled real-life events from the 1970's to the morally shady (at best) the American government was responding to the 9/11 attacks.

"We're Up All Night For Good Fun, We're Up All Night To Get (Logan) Lucky"

The South and its associated culture (and other parts of the country north of the South that hew closely to said country) are weird. Anything to do with redneck stuff is inherently just a little bit off-kilter. Not saying there aren't strange facets of the upper-crust life too (why are fish eggs considered a culinary delicacy among the wealthy again?) but having lived in Texas for over two decades, I'm well-aware of how a large share of the little details of everyday life around here really are just bizarre like certain colloquialisms, fashion traits, and societal faux pas. Filmmakers like Richard Linklater have used that truth heavily in their own films and now Logan Lucky is the newest film to utilize the inherent oddness of Southern customs as a backbone for entertaining cinema.

EXCLUSIVE! Read A Scene From The Next James Bond Film, The Hildebrand Rarity

SPOILERS FOR SPECTRE AHEAD 

Spectre Review

There's less of a plot going on during the 140+ minute running time of Spectre than there is just a stream of ideas concocted by various individuals once they realized that MGM had gotten the film rights back to the SPECTRE organization that had fought 007 in earlier films and novels. Yes, it's cool to see the dastardly corporation of Ian Fleming's novels return to the silver screen for the first time in 44 years, but it feels like the urge to put the well-known agency into the Daniel Craig Bond films was the only thing driving the storytelling on the 24th James Bond film, fittingly titled Spectre. Looking at the entire enterprise as a whole, it's remarkable how little there actually is to chew on in terms of both substance and spectacle.

The Next James Bond Movie Will Be Called...Spectre!

Oh man, did I love Skyfall. Now, frankly, James Bond was the one cinematic entity I didn't grow up surrounded by, and I freely admit many older James Bond films have escaped my viewing. But I know a good film when I see one, and Skyfall more than fit the bill. An excellent feature that more than whetted my appetite for my Bonds mayhem, which on the way for next November!

The Next Bond Movie Villain Will Be Played By Christoph Waltz!!

With Skyfall, the James Bond franchise just a double O boost, with critical, audience and financial reception at an all-time high. The next adventure for the super spy starts filming in December for a November 6, 2015 release date, and now casting is underway. While Dave Bautista had been previously cast in the film as a baddie, the newest Bond villain will be played by two time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz!