- Tom Simmons
- January 15, 2026
‘The Muppet Movie’ (1979) is pure cinematic bliss
“The Muppet Movie” (1979) is a true classic: a road film, a comedy, a romance, a film with heart. It’s worth it for the cameos
‘The Muppet Movie’ (1979) is pure cinematic bliss
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- John Hansen
- December 4, 2025
‘Blues Brothers’ (1980) is an absurdly bombastic crowd-pleaser
“The Blues Brothers” (1980) has such massive set pieces and action sequences that the belly laughs have little chance at being equally big. But it’s
- John Hansen
- August 29, 2025
‘Phantom of the Paradise’ (1974) is De Palma’s ambitious pop opera
Brian De Palma, the greatest remixer in cinema history, follows up his Hitchcock-inspired breakthrough “Sisters” (1973) with “Phantom of the Paradise” (1974). The musical combines
- John Hansen
- December 9, 2022
‘Anna and the Apocalypse’ (2017) is fun … until the end
In the musical zombie comedy “Anna and the Apocalypse” (2017), the cliched themes of “High School Musical” meet the tropes of “The Walking Dead” in
- John Hansen
- March 27, 2022
‘West Side Story’ (2021) an ugly tale presented with false beauty
“West Side Story” (2021), director Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the 1957 stage musical, chronicles an ugly 20-block area of New York City fought over by
- John Hansen
- June 22, 2021
‘In the Heights’ not quite great, but hard to hate
“In the Heights” (HBO Max and theaters), the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2005 stage musical, asks a viewer to commit to the NYC neighborhood
- John Hansen
- May 1, 2020
‘Wicker Man’ (1973) a thrilling piece of daylight horror history
Like “Midsommar” would do nearly a half-century later, “The Wicker Man” (1973) taps into a subgenre called folk horror. These films are not traditionally scary
- John Hansen
- April 14, 2019
The top 100 ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ songs, ranked
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” recently wrapped an amazing four-season run with Rebecca Bunch (co-creator Rachel Bloom) deciding to pursue love – as in her love of writing
- John Hansen
- October 16, 2018
First episode impressions: ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ Season 4 (TV review)
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (9 p.m. Eastern Fridays, The CW) spends a lot of its Season 4 premiere reminding us where the story is at – and
- John Hansen
- April 10, 2018
‘The Greatest Showman’ is a beautiful celebration of showbiz that doesn’t pretend to be subtle (Movie review)
“The Greatest Showman” (2017), now available for home viewing, takes us back to a time when anything is possible if you dream big and are