I knew Rosebud was the sled, I knew Ilsa would get on the plane, and I knew Norman Bates liked to wear his mom’s clothes. I even knew Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. W...

When I teach film, I often use clips from Baz Luhrmann movies as examples of formal techniques — montage, say, or framing. His use of the structure of filmmaking to communic...

Our long national nightmare is over! And by “long” I mean four months, and by “national” I mean “personal,” and by “nightmare” I mean “not having anything go...

As the tens of longtime readers of this column know, I keep track of the movies I see each year using my office wall and Post-it notes. The Movie-Ranking Wall of Stickies (mot...

I am about to absolve you of something. Are you ready? It’s OK if you don’t like “To the Wonder.” The film, which opened last week, was directed by Terrence Malick, wh...

“Jurassic Park 3D” opened last week, 20 years after the flat version stomped into theaters. I will not be seeing it. Though 2-D-to-3-D conversion has gotten immeasurably b...

Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel were the first people I ever heard discuss movies with deep, intelligent passion. I always liked Ebert better, and I really don’t think I...

Oh, how I hate Bella Swan. The heroine of the “Twilight” saga offends me as a woman, as a feminist and, most importantly, as a “Buffy” fan. I could go on and on [and o...

I was born in Texas, but D.C. is home. I moved here just before second grade and, except for college an hour away and my two years in Chicago, I have lived in the area ever si...

I’m 36. Thanks to good genes (hi, Grandma!) and religious use of sunblock and sunglasses, my face is holding up pretty well. I don’t mind, really, that three little lines ...

Press screenings are great, and I highly recommend you either get a job where you have access to them or become my friend so I bring you as my guest for the low price of keepi...

After most documentaries I see, I walk out of the theater in despair because the problem exposed by the film is nearly unsolvable. Melting glaciers, the water crisis, Detroit....

Long before passing judgment became my job, I sucked at Oscar picks. For the past two years, I haven’t even tried to choose them myself. In 2012, I consulted an assortment o...

My 4-year-old son recently succumbed to a stomach bug that was so bad we used up all our designated Puke Towels (good for both kids and cats!), moved on to Muddy Dog towels, w...

Real surprises are rare at the movies these days. Even though I see most films before they’re released, it seems I always know something about a movie before I go in — eit...