This years’ Sherlock Holmes is not your fathers’ or your grandfathers’ Arthur Conan Doyle. But if you scratch the surface you’ll find heart of the original character, still beating steadily. Doyle first introduced the Holmes in 1887, with “A Study in Scarlett.” The character was allegedly based on one of the author’s university presidents, who impressed the young Conan Doyle with his distinctive observational and inductive skills. Readers immediately responded…

We have an insatiable appetite for apocalypse, at least in the movies. We love explosions, earthquakes, alien invasion, tsunamis, nuclear blasts—the more the better. No sooner does the latest, greatest depiction of doomsday fade into memory than a new and grander vision comes along. And we rush to theaters to see it on a big screen…

We’re not very interested the latest studio cast offs, “Old Dogs,” “Armored” and “Everybody’s Fine;” movies that can’t find audiences in spite of expensive ad campaigns. And even if we’re curious about the DeNiro vehicle, (“Fine”), we are better served by the original, Italian version, from 1991, starring Marcello Mastroianni and directed by Guiseppe Tornatore, the man who created “Cinema Paradiso.” Go get the DVD…

As I sit here writing this, “New Moon,” the second installment in the “Twilight Saga” series, has grossed more than $400 million. This, after a little more than two weeks in theaters. That number is the combined international total, but in the US alone it’s grossed over half that. The first in this series, “Twilight,” brought in close to $400 million worldwide, not counting home video, which most certainly was huge…

Last time I talked about the first of two independent films that are currently recruiting a large following. “Precious,” is the raw, invigorating movie that may achieve blockbuster status before year’s end. While not nearly as high profile, “An Education,” from England, has shown surprising “legs” as it plays around the country. (Yes, make the trip to Philadelphia to see it.)…

Two striking independent films are currently filling big city theaters around the country, and seem poised to pick up year end prizes. Both will probably make their way to Lancaster, but until then, they’re worth a trip to Philadelphia. The two films share several qualities; steady direction, well developed characters, and strong visual elements.

Did the pioneers of “Cinema Verite,” documentary filmmakers of the fifties and early sixties–like New York’s Maysles Brothers or the Canada’s Alan King–ever think their technique would be used in fiction? Beyond that, did they foresee a day when two of the most profitable narrative films in movie history looked and sounded like their scrappy non fiction? Or that they would be horror movies?

What were the creators of “Amelia” thinking when they conceived the movie, and who were they making it for? They had to believe there was considerable interest in the life of the famed Aviatrix, who disappeared, not so mysteriously, during an ill advised segment of her 1937 attempt to fly the globe.

George Romero is the undisputed godfather of the modern zombie movie. After his “Night of the Living Dead sank into our conscious, a process that began in 1968 and continued for decades, the zombie went from a listless but benign reminder of the perils of eternal life, to a ravenous creature with an insatiable craving for human flesh…

One thing we know about Michael Moore; he enjoys the role of provocateur. He’s played the part in a handful of popular documentaries and TV shows over the past 20 years, tweaking noses in the auto industry, the gun lobby, the insurance industry, and the military industrial complex. He has no reservations about tackling large issues, or skewering those who choose not to cooperate with his impromptu interviews. But this time out he’s taken on a whopper; the entire free enterprise system…

“The Informant!,” directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon is as irritating as it is interesting. But it’s still worth seeing. Based on the true story of Mark Whitacre, an executive who cooperated with an FBI investigation of price fixing at the behemoth Archer Daniels Midland company, it suffers from the kind of identity crisis that keeps it teetering on the edge of disaster…

If you’re game for a trip to Philadelphia this weekend I highly recommend a stop at the Ritz where “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” one of the most ambitious films ever made in Germany, is currently playing. If not, put it on your Netflix list. The movie is an epic chronicle of a dark period in recent history that resonates on a couple of levels.

Taiwan born Ang Lee has directed a dozen films since 1992, an eclectic mix of different genres, all graced with the same knowing hand. He works in a classic style, like the great craftsmen of Hollywood’s golden era…