'Cinderella' is a Sweet, Refreshing Take on the Classic Fairy Tale

Cinderella the character is somewhat controversial. I think a lot of people take issue with her "grin and bear it" approach to life and also the "swept away by Prince Charming" happy ending. Cinderella has often been seen as a passive character, who lets things to happen to her. Critics of the Cinderella tale find issue with how Cinderella fits nicely into expected gender roles.

Because of this, the princess story has gone under some major revisions: Mulan saves the empire, Tiana opens a restaurant, Elsa rules Arandele, Merida unites kingdoms. Rapunzel searches for her sense of self. And with the new trend of remaking/rebooting animated classics, Maleficent and Aurora share a deep bond of mother/daughter affection.

When a new Cinderella movie was announced, I wondered what the new take on Cinderella would be. How would they update the story to fit the trend of the New Disney Princess? Surprisingly and refreshingly, director Kenneth Branagh (Thor, Hamlet) and writer Chris Weitz (About a Boy) have delivered a straightforward telling of Cinderella's story, taking elements from the 1950 Disney animated film and other Cinderella legends.

Julianne Moore Anchors the Heartbreaking 'Still Alice' (Review)

Julianne Moore is one of my favorite actors. When she won the Academy Award earlier this year, I was happy for her. She has been putting out stellar work for over twenty years in films like Safe, Far From Heaven, The Kids Are All Right and Magnolia. She’s versatile, has exceptional command over her body language and finds a way to push herself to the emotional extreme and maintain her integrity.

Based on the 2007 novel by Lisa Genova, Still Alice is written and directed by Richard Glatzer (who has sadly passed away recently) and Wash Westmoreland. Moore stars alongside Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish and Stephen Kunken. The film was shot by French cinematographer Denis Lenoir and edited by Nicolas Chaudeurge.

'American Sniper:' 1st R-Rated Movie in 16 Years to Top Yearly Box Office

Clint Eastwood's Oscar winning war film American Sniper has grossed $337 million at the domestic box office, officially beating longtime champ Mockingjay Part 1 by 1 million. It is the first R-rated movie to top the yearly box office since 1998's Saving Private Ryan (which grossed about $216 mil in the late 90s). American Sniper has a worldwide total of $500 mil.

Like the high box office gross of 50 Shades of Grey, the box office victory is both a success and a non-success. I have to celebrate anytime an R-rated "for adults only" movie enjoys colossal success at the box office. It could mean more chances being taken on a large range of projects instead of the usual "sequels and remakes." At the same time, I wasn't a huge fan of either American Sniper or 50 Shades (though I tried my hardest to be fair to both). American Sniper's box office success and Oscar glory is not surprising because it can easily be seen as validating a large portion of its audience's beliefs and values.

But does it?

A Part of Your Parade: Why 'Boyhood' Deserved to Win Best Picture

On Sunday night, Birdman took home Best Picture along with 3 other Oscars. The win was not a major surprise since it had picked up a lot of pre-Oscar awards from the important Screen Actors, Producers and Directors Guilds. But many Boyhood fans like myself had hoped that Boyhood would still take home Best Picture with Birdman taking Best Director-that way both films took him the two top prizes and in categories where they both shined.

The thing is, I can't be too mad that Birdman won Best Picture because I really liked that film and thought it was worthy of its nominations. But, like with most Oscar victories, it's not really a matter of which nominee is better than the others (too subjective) but it's a matter what statement the Academy wants to make by choosing the winner. And like with most baffling Oscar nominations, wins and snubs, the questions is: what is actually being rewarded here?

For '50 Shades of Grey' BDSM Means Boring Dumb Sexy Magic

So the big news this week was that 50 Shades of Grey's box office totals went down 70% in its 2nd weekend. This isn't that surprising. This movie represents the kind of fad that's a fad until it isn't. The speculation was high before its release and pop culture enthusiasts were curious about what it would be like. I think the problem was that the speculation was more fun than the actual movie.

But I went to see the movie and to be honest, it wasn't that bad. No, it's nowhere near a good movie but you could tell that they tried or wanted to try. I just don't think the material they had to work with was strong enough to support a mainstream film. It's the age old question: if good books can make bad movies, can bad books make good movies?

87th Academy Awards: Predictions, Surprises & Snubs

It's Oscar time, people! It's been a strange year because there were so many great films in the running that the list of films and performances  that were not nominated is about as long as the ones that were. Here are some of my picks for this year's Oscar winners.

Best Picture: 
American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash
Winner: Boyhood
The Dark Horse: Birdman
Like last year, it's a pretty tight race between Boyhood and Birdman. Boyhood seems like the favorite--and I'd still put money on it--but Birdman has picked up a lot of key awards from the guilds (producers, directors and screen actors). Boyhood got the BAFTA and the Golden Globe-Best Drama. Birdman famously lost the Golden Globe-Best Comedy/Musical to Grand Budapest. That film could surprise and pull a win. Wouldn't that be something? In the end, I think Boyhood will take it.

Major snub: I think a lot of people were surprised not to see Foxcatcher since that got a lot of nominations, including Best Director. I would have liked to see Nightcrawler, Wild and Gone Girl here as well.

A Brief Love Letter to Keira Knightley and All Other Actresses Who Get Nominated for Playing "The Girl"

When I wrote my Oscar predictions blog a few months ago, I expressed some disdain for the fact that Keira Knightley, one of my top favorite actresses, was in the running for an Oscar nomination for a film where she is "The Girl" to an "Important Man." She did get the nomination (her second after 2005's Pride and Prejudice as Lead Actress). And I finally saw her nominated performance in The Imitation Game.

Don't get me wrong; her performance was fine. She is a brilliant actress and her performance as Joan Clark was typically nuanced. But let's take a look at Keira's career. After Pride & Prejudice, she starred in Atonement, Never Let Me Go, The Duchess, Last Night, Anna Karenina, Begin Again, Laggies and A Dangerous Method. All of these are infinitely more interesting than The Imitation Game. The Imitation Game is such a standard biopic. It's entertaining and solid but that's it. Considering how varied and risky her movie choices have been, it's frustrating to see her being rewarded for playing a character whose sole purpose is to make the prickly insufferable genius guy more human.