The term “I don’t understand” is spoken numerous times throughout the film. That’s not counting audience members. Come equipped with a sophisticated understanding of the banking collapse of the mid-2000s and you’ll be hanging on every word. For those who invest in cinema and wouldn’t know a housing bubble from …

Who'd have thought spending 90 minutes in a car with Selena Gomez could be this stagnant? A disembodied voice orders a former race car driver (Ethan Hawke), whose wife he holds hostage, and a banker’s daughter (Gomez) to do his nefarious bidding in this extended commercial for the Shelby Super …

Fans of Adam Sandler will want to have a neighbor read them the following: the latest from Sony Pictures Animation has all the stylistic innovation and visual niceties of a Count Chocula commercial. An unduly protective vampire daddy (Sandler) who runs a restricted resort — the clientele is limited to …

The lively undead. Yes, that's the legendary Mel Brooks you hear lending his voice to Great-Grandpa Vlad in director Genndy Tartakovsky's sequel to his human boy-meets-monster girl romantic comedy for kids, Hotel Transylvania. Maybe that explains the relentless, unending, benumbing avalanche of gags (visual and otherwise), puns, and one-liners — …

The genius of replacing the Columbia Pictures torch lady with an antifreeze Jell-O mold lasted long enough for incest to set in. With daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) of marrying age, her relationship with daddy Dracula (Adam Sandler’s out, Brian Hull’s in) has matured from electral love to borderline inbreeding. (Drac …

Selena Gomez’s girlish features are a tough sell in this coming-of-age role. The story centers on Grace, who is off to Paris as a graduation present with her stepsister and best friend in tow. Through a case of mistaken identity (Gomez playing double duty), the trio is swept off to …

Never mind baby Roberta. For that matter, seldom mind older sister Beezus (a mispronunciation of Beatrice). This is mostly about Ramona, the disaster-prone grade-schooler of Beverly Cleary’s series of children’s books. Healthful family entertainment in spite of parental unemployment and pet death; pacelessly episodic; Ginnifer Goodwin good in support as …

Casting the great and powerful Oz (James Franco, making quick reparations for his colorless work on The Wiz prequel) as a tin-grinned hustler opposite a pair of former Disney cuties (Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez) in what amounts to a Girls Gone Wild video with a better DP, will forever …