Woody Allen never has disputed his admiration for cinema's great masters, such as Ingmar Bergman, nor their influence on his own work.  read more »

Although it's a spoof, "Tropic Thunder" really is a movie inside a movie -- so much so that its leading characters all are introduced via trailers of their "films.  read more »

Anyone not falling into one of the aforementioned categories will be hard pressed to find much that is amusing about dopers on the lam from gun-wielding gangsters and crooked cops.  read more »

The biggest surprise in "Swing Vote," a new political "dramedy" from Kevin Costner, is Costner's young co-star, Madeline Carroll.  read more »

What is the fine line that separates a hero from a villain?  read more »

The best action pictures aren't always the ones possessing the most spectacular stunts, the biggest explosions or the grandest special effects.  read more »

In its original incarnation, "Get Smart" was a late 1960s television series that spoofed the spy craze that was popular at the time.  read more »

In 2003, director Ang Lee released his interpretation of the Marvel Comics character, "Hulk."

In trying to intellectualize this most primal of stories and fantasy characters, Lee delivered a film that was basically lambasted as a boring dud.  read more »

In an era when animated movies are either populated by cute, witty animals known more for their celebrity voices ("Madagascar") or smitten by their own sense of hipness and irony ("Shrek" 1, 2 or 3), "Kung Fu Panda" arrives in theaters as a breath of fres  read more »

"Young @ Heart" is the name taken by a chorus of senior citizens from Northhampton, Mass., whose specialty is doing versions of pop and rock standards made famous by the likes of James Brown and The Ramones.  read more »