John Carter — an intrepid explorer of other planets, born from the pen of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who also created Tarzan — finally has hit the big screen. The character first appeared in a 1912 pulp magazine serial, which later was published in novel form as “A Princess of Mars.” Tarzan debuted the same year to far greater success, quickly making the jump to movies, which ranged from Johnny Weissmuller adventures to trashy Bo Derek movies, Oscar-nominated dramas and Disney cartoons. Read More

In the first all-night party movie, arguably George Lucas' "American Graffiti," the focus was on characters learning a lesson over the course of the night.As the genre became more common, the parties got more and more raucous – as in "Sixteen Candles," "Superbad," "The Hangover" and "Take Me Home Tonight" – but the focus was still on characters learning things and becoming better people.But "Project X" advances the genre to an entirely new level. Screen time  once devoted to nurturing characters has been set aside to make room for more chaos and destruction. Read More

The new movie “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” based on the 1971 book, is a happy success.For decades, popular children’s books by Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) have been adapted to cartoons, short films and TV specials; yet their size and rhythm seemed to resist the long form.With the exception of the original feature screenplay written by Seuss, 1953’s “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T,” the first attempt to bring one of his stories to the big screen was 2000’s soulless “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Read More

Though it features real-life U.S. Navy SEALs as the lead characters, “Act of Valor" is actually a new Hollywood action movie – not a documentary.   In a filmed introductory statement, co-directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh said research influenced their decision to use the real-life guys rather than actors, who could not possibly understand the daily lives of SEALs. On one level, their choice was good. Trained SEALs perform precision tasks with speed and authority in a way that actors cannot duplicate. Read More

Hollywood usually designs its love triangles more along the lines of isosceles than equilateral. It must be absolutely clear which two partners the audience is supposed to root for, and the third is usually painted as slimy or annoying.If the partners are equal, as they are in the new “This Means War,” it’s problematic. The movie therefore strives to solve problems of script rather than of character. Even worse, the middle character — in this case product tester Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) — comes across like an indecisive idiot. Read More

Israeli-born director Oren Moverman, whose new film is “Rampart,” opening Friday, worked as a journalist before turning to screenwriting — though his journalism skills still come in handy.He broke out helping adapt Denis Johnson’s “Jesus’ Son” into a 1999 movie. Later, he co-­wrote “Married Life,” starring Pierce Brosnan and Rachel McAdams, and 2007’s “I’m Not There,” a kind of analytical biopic about Bob Dylan. Read More