When J.J. Abrams was a "Star Wars" novice, Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Return of the Jedi," had some advice for him: "Star Wars" is not important. "But what...

Jane Fonda said recently that "Book Club" was the most fun she's ever had making a movie. She was ostensibly talking about getting to know her castmates — namely Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and...

Productions of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" almost always tip too far into farce or wade too deeply into tragedy, unable to sustain the play's elusive balancing act. Michael Mayer's lush and lively...

Do laundry. Clean the fish tank. Re-grout the bathroom. What do these things have in common? They are much better ways to spend your time than sitting through Melissa McCarthy's uninspired and forced...

At a recent screening of "Deadpool 2," the audience didn't get up when the end credits came up, patiently sitting through the scrolling names of visual effects supervisors and lighting specialists....

There is one perfect moment in "Breaking In " that one goes to see a movie like "Breaking In" for and it comes relatively early on. Gabrielle Union's character, Shaun, has found herself under attack...

Garry Marshall's 1987 comedy "Overboard" might not have gotten the best reviews when it came out, but it was a viewing staple in my childhood home. Whether it was because of cable repeats, my...

Charlize Theron had wanted to work again with screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman since the movie "Young Adult," in which Theron got to play a true mess of a character —...

Ron Howard's 40-year directing career almost ended before it began. His first day directing a feature film, the high-octane road movie "Grand Theft Auto," came the day after his 23rd birthday. "I...

The title character of Jason Reitman's "Tully" descends not from the clouds, carried by an umbrella in the wind, but glides cheerfully through the front door on a black night. She arrives just as...