The new Evil Dead, directed by feature newcomer Fede Alvarez, may seem to be the latest chapter in Hollywood's ongoing descent into creative bankruptcy. But is that actually so?

LOS ANGELES — "Blood-drenched" barely begins to describe Fede Alvarez's remake of "Evil Dead," a gore-for-broke affair that strips the flesh off...

To say that Evil Dead is a film for a specific audience is an understatement. If things like dismemberment and self-mutilation make you queasy -- as they would any normal person -- then you probably shouldn't even visit the same multiplex where this film is showing.

The women of Oz: The Great and Powerful may have serious issues in how they are written and presented, but at least Oz: The Great and Powerful has women (plural) in it at all.

Another film that answers questions we didn't ask, Oz the Great and Powerful is a prequel showing how the magical land over the rainbow got its formidable-but-all-too-fallible wizard.

Any review of Oz the Great and Powerful that fails to use some variant of the word "wretched" is not to be trusted. A critic who avoids "queasy," "soul-chafing" and "aspartame" has almost certainly been paid off by Disney. It's conceivable that someone somewhere has taste just rotten enough that they can dodge these terms without being slipped a few bucks. But unlikely.

No red slippers. No need. Oz works. Color, vivid color, is the star.

While Oz: The Great and Powerful has its writing issues, it's far more satisfying than Alice in Wonderland and I can confirm that it went over like gangbusters with the packed general audience crowd I saw it with. All the signs indicate that it is in it for the long haul.

The last time director Sam Raimi, one of the most talented visual voices of his generation, tried his hand at a big budget blockbuster, this happened....

LOS ANGELES — Returning to the mystical land of "The Wizard of Oz" took more than 70 years and several hundred millions dollars. Disney release...

"Oz the Great and Powerful" aims for nostalgia in older viewers who grew up on "The Wizard of Oz" and still hold the classic dear while simultaneously...

With the release of Oz the Great and Powerful this weekend, it was suggested by my editor that I re-watch The Wizard of Oz for the first time in qu...

"The Quick and the Dead," a somewhat forgettable (other than its quite remarkable cast) 1995 Western starring Sharon Stone, isn't exactly the first mo...

It's every screenwriter's nightmare. To be in the office of one of Hollywood's most powerful producers, pitching all of your script ideas. Only to then have that mover-and-shaker repeatedly say "Nope. Not interested." But that's exactly what happened back in 2009 to poor Mitchell Kapner.

James Franco, the Energizer bunny of actors, plays Oscar Diggs, a small-time magician in a second-rate traveling circus first seen doing his show to a small crowd in the black-and-white Kansas of the early 20th Century.

"Oz the Great and Powerful" isn't exactly the first film we, as a society, might expect James Franco to star in these days. These days, we collectivel...

After the success of Sam Raimi's trilogy of Spider-Man films, it seemed like a no-brainer that the series would continue, considering everyone involve...

Friends and heroes, let us celebrate a truly great man of American letters: the one and only Stan Lee.

When Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion sang "we're off to see the wizard," did you have James Franco in mind? Too bad, since F...

Sam Raimi debuted the first footage from the highly anticipated "Oz The Great and Powerful" at Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday, and -- as you can s...

Why would Sony, which owns the rights to the Spider-Man character, feel that it was a good time to reboot the series with The Amazing Spider-Man? As you probably guessed, it has something to do with money.

"The Amazing Spider-Man," as you know, is a complete reboot of the Spider-Man story, featuring an entirely different cast than the Sam Raimi series of...

Next week, a new Spider-Man movie, titled, The Amazing Spider-Man will be available for your viewing pleasure in exchange for a somewhat unreasonabl...

"The Amazing Spider-Man" is director Marc Webb's second movie. This is not a statement on Webb -- whose first film was the almost universally loved "(...