Author – The Durango Herald

‘Fate of the Furious’ silly and loud

“The Fate of the Furious” doesn’t need your stinkin’ laws. Speed limits? Optional. Ditto, gravity. Only one unwritten commandment of silly action moviemaking – thou shalt not exce...

DATE: Apr 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

‘Fifty Shades Darker’: No, spank you!

The box-office smash “Fifty Shades of Grey” was a better movie than E.L. James’ “Twilight” fan-fiction deserved. The romance novel about an S&M-loving billionaire who falls for a bookworm wa...

DATE: Feb 10, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Oscar nominations 2017: Complete list of nominees; ‘La La Land’s’ 14 ties all-time record

The Academy Award nominations were announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, kicking off the most prestigious award-show frenzy of them all. The Oscars will air Feb. 26 on ABC....

DATE: Jan 24, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

‘The Founder’ spins the sordid success story of McDonald’s mogul Ray Kroc

‘The Founder” is a wink of a title. It’s about Ray Kroc, the man who turned a California hamburger stand called McDonald’s into a global empire, although the original restaurant wasn’t even ...

DATE: Jan 17, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

‘Collateral Beauty’: Tearjerker works, but doesn’t live up to its stellar cast

To watch “Collateral Beauty” is to feel both moved and manipulated. If there are tears, they’ll be practically squeezed out of you by a tragic plot device: the death of a little girl. ...

DATE: Dec 14, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

You should be watching ‘Black Mirror’ – but that doesn’t mean you should binge it

Netflix presented a challenge to seasoned binge-watchers with its release of “Black Mirror” on Friday. With just six episodes, at about an hour a pop (plus one 90-minute installment), could ...

DATE: Oct 25, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Celebrity cameos aren't funny anymore and they're making movies worse

Two movies came out last weekend that tried to wring comedy from cameos. Two movies failed. The more blatant was “Absolutely Fabulous,” a big-screen adaptation of a British televi...

DATE: Jul 26, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Winona Ryder is great in 'Stranger Things,' but don't ask if this is her big comeback

Winona Ryder hasn’t changed much. Thirty years since her debut in “Lucas,” she’s still a delicate pixie with giant brown eyes, still the appealingly disheveled outsider. The only difference ...

DATE: Jul 20, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Blast it all, they’re back in ‘Resurgence’

Have we made any progress in the last two decades? Not compared with the world of “Independence Day: Resurgence,” where global peace has reigned since aliens were defeated in 1996; the Unite...

DATE: Jun 24, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

‘Warcraft,’ inspired by a video game, a convoluted waste of mental energy

Twenty minutes into “Warcraft,” viewers will already have been whisked to such fanciful places as Draenor, Azeroth, Stormwind – and a castle in the sky. The good news is there’s no quiz at t...

DATE: Jun 8, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

As Sally Field aged, her parts got less interesting - until ‘Hello, My Name Is Doris’

Even a pair of Oscars won’t guarantee good roles – at least not forever. Sally Field could have stayed busy playing supportive wives and concerned mothers for the rest of her career. But bey...

DATE: Mar 31, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

'The Revenant' is turning Leonardo DiCaprio into a legend

Not even Chuck Norris could have endured the kinds of horrors frontiersman Hugh Glass survived. In 1823, Glass was mauled by a grizzly bear but managed to crawl 200 miles - with a broken leg...

DATE: Dec 29, 2015 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment