Joan Plowright

February 14, 2008 With character names like Hogsqueal, Mulgarath and Thimbletack, it's got to be derivative. So it's not altogether surprising that Mark Waters' ("Freaky Friday," "Mean Girls") adaptation of "The Spiderwick Chronicles" suffers slightly...

"Big Fat Liar": Jason (Frankie Muniz) and his best friend (Amanda Bynes) travel to Los Angeles after sleazy producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti) turns Jason's school story into a movie. Jason told his parents about Wolf, but they didn't believe him --...

Warping popular books into nearly unrecognizable forms is a grand old tradition in Hollywood, where few novels make it to the screen even remotely intact. But while Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's best-selling series, "The Spiderwick Chronicles," hasn't...

Motion picture studios are always looking for the next great film franchise. It is one thing to have a movie that generates big bucks. But, movies with sequels are money in the bank again and again. The search has ended for Paramount. The studio has...

Absolute Power (1997) Clint Eastwood stars as the sensitive thief who can save the entire American political system from complete corruption. Too bad he wasn't around during the Reagan administration. Eastwood discovers presidential corruption during...

Tracy Letts has marked his territory at the Barrow Street Theatre. His paranoid white-knuckler of a play, "BUG," just concluded an 11-month run there. Now, he's on the very same stage acting in the New York premiere of "Orson's Shadow." He portrays the...

Franco Zeffirelli gets to honor his old friend in 'Callas Forever.' It took director Franco Zeffirelli a quarter of a century to figure out how best to pay homage on screen to his longtime friend and colleague, opera legend Maria Callas, who died at 53 in...

2 stars (out of 4) Sometimes it's best to let sleeping divas lie. "Callas Forever" is based on an unrealized idea by director Franco Zeffirelli to film his close friend and colleague, legendary opera singer Maria Callas, performing her signature roles...

2 stars (out of 4) "Trust no one" is the only piece of advice 12-year-old David (Ben Tibber) receives before escaping from a Bulgarian prison camp in 1952. He's given a destination (Denmark), a sealed letter to give to authorities and little else. His...

An assortment of familiar faces are making their way to Paramount's adaptation of "The Spiderwick Chronicles." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Martin Short and Joan Plowright are in negotiations to give the Mark...

2 stars (out of four) Joan Plowright got through "Last Action Hero" and "Dennis the Menace" without smudging her reputation, and in a near fatally genteel mode "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" won't dent it, either. In this adaptation of the 1971 novel,...

mmx-060210-movies-review-george You can say several things in favor of "Curious George," a mild off-season cinematic bid for the young and the restless. The movie, a G-rated, 86-minute affair, isn't glib or assaultive in the "Shrek" vein, though Joe...