Punch monkeys rule. They don’t say much, but they’re very colorful and let their actions, i.e., their punching, do their talking for them. And it’s not just punch monkeys. It’s also kick monkeys, headbutt monkeys, and the dreaded low blow monkeys, to name a few others. All are great and…

The opening scene of “The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee” starts off with Paul Hogan, playing a fictionalized version of himself, walking around the Hollywood Hills when a large group of people ask him to handle a snake that’s on the path. This is because they think…

A good sign that a movie is out to have fun and be entertaining is when it plays with the studio logo. It’s a signal to the audience that what we’re about to see is not a serious prestige picture, but rather something created for our amusement.

Settings matter. At least they should. In the best story writing, time and place have a meaning. They’re not merely incidental to the plot. They inform the characters and action as events unfold. “Let Him Go” has a setting that absolutely matters.

As someone who’s watched a superfluous overabundance of movies, I sometimes ponder if every original idea has been exhausted. Then I watch something like “Fatman,” with a brazenly weird and fantastically original concept, and it gives me hope that there are more great ideas yet to come.

One of the major advantages of comedy over drama is that in comedy, consequences don’t have to matter. Take for example the opening scene of 1990’s “The Freshman,” in which Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) takes one final hunting trip with stepdad Dwight…

Sometimes cliches are cliches for a reason, and oftentimes it’s because there is at least some bit of truth to them. I’ll dust off this old chestnut for “Roman Holiday”: They don’t make them like they used to.

Barbara Stanwyck is a charmer. With her petite frame and inviting smile, she has a sweet, endearing, approachable, girl next door quality that makes her extremely likeable—even if the character she is playing is a swindler, like in 1941’s “The Lady Eve.”