Following his three-trophy Oscar haul for "Birdman" last year, filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu returns with an even more expansive cinematic challenge. Inspired by a wild true story, "The Revenant" is an unrelenting survival drama that makes "Cast Away" look like a cute day at the beach. Powered by raw natural beauty and a constant nerve of savage peril, Inarritu's film succeeds with striking artistry and superior craftsmanship in polishing a harsh and rough-hewn legend. Four-time Academy Award nominee Leonardo DiCaprio pushes himself and you over edge after edge in the most challenging performance of his career.
Read MoreAs busy I get from time to time (and having a newborn baby at home isn't helping), I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, sometimes a simple sentence or two from a friend says it all. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for quick-hit movie reviews.
Read MoreTraditionally, the months of September and October are the dumping grounds of movies that weren't good enough or too dark to be summer releases or films not quite good enough to be held until the prime awards season during the winter months of November and December. Every now and then, though, a future Academy Award winner sneaks into early into the Oscar race with an October release. Here is my full preview of the 2014 fall movie season. I hope I can steer you to a few hidden gems before the real big-timers get here in November and December.
Read MoreNow that September is here, the summer movie season is officially over and we shift girls to the fall movie season. Here's a handy checklist and calendar of upcoming releases for September and October. Bookmark this, print this out, or slap it on the fridge as your new must-see list. My full 2014 Fall Movie Preview will be dropping soon.
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