Movies

My entertainment articles have been published in the Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Allentown Morning Call, and San Francisco Chronicle. I started reporting for Box Office Mojo, a box office tracking service, in 2002, after years of covering movies and entertainment for newspapers during the Nineties. My reports, interviews, and reviews significantly expanded the site’s content beyond its statistics and elevated Box Office Mojo to an online publication.

Walt Disney Pictures Chairman Dick Cook

The Disney studio’s top businessman talks about Enchanted, Pirates and Narnia—as well as a fire on the Monorail—in this exclusive interview. Read more >>

The Alamo Diluted History Hurts Disney's 'Alamo'

This 2004 movie review was published in the Los Angeles Daily News.

Disney had a $100 million-plus budget riding on its version of The Alamo, a war epic directed by John Lee Hancock. Box Office Mojo had forecast gross receipts of almost $15 million during its opening weekend and, when it barely reached $9 million, it was clear that The Alamo was in trouble. Read more >>

The Illusionist Edward Norton's Merlin is Magnificent

Originally published August 28, 2006 by Box Office Mojo

The best picture of 2006 thus far is a virtuoso display of acting, direction and storytelling. Read more >>

Akeelah and the Bee How Do You Spell Relief?

Originally published April 27, 2006 by Box Office Mojo

A girl learns how to think as Laurence Fishburne matches a fine performance from a sweet 12-year-old newcomer. Read more >>

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days German Nazi Drama Captivates

Originally published February 27 2006 by Box Office Mojo

An ordinary citizen’s gripping ordeal under National Socialism dramatizes how faith in the state extinguishes life. Read more >>

Eight Below Stranded Sled Dogs Make for Gripping Tale

Originally published February 18, 2006 by Box Office Mojo

Disney's harrowing Antarctic adventure engages with nature-based conflict and eight memorably distinct huskies. Read more >>

Mrs. Henderson Presents Dench Shines in British Mischief

Originally published January 14, 2006 by Box Office Mojo

The Weinstein Company presents a sassy British war story powered by Judi Dench at her best. Read more >>

CapoteDark Drama Details Truman Capote's Downfall

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

A stark style suits the story of the famous writer who came to cover a mass murder in the Midwest and lost his way. Read more >>

CasanovaHallstrom Makes Loving Fun

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

After a slow start, Lasse Hallstrom’s latest movie is an effervescent, visually stunning Venetian romp starring Heath Ledger as the famous lover. Read more >>

The Da Vinci CodeTheological Thriller a Mediocrity

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

Director Ron Howard's faithful potboiler self-flagellates with slow pace, crammed info and stilted characters. Read more >>

Good Night, and Good LuckMcCarthy, Minus the Red Menace

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

Absent any context, style doesn’t meet substance in George Clooney’s episodic tale of Murrow Vs. McCarthy. Read more >>

DumboBig Elephant Ears Bring Big Top Entertainment

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

Walt Disney’s charming 1941 classic celebrates the circus freak within. Read more >>

ZathuraBoard Game Fantasy is Candy-Coated Fun

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

Children’s author Chris Van Allsburg (The Polar Express, Jumanji) scores a triple play with director Jon Favreau’s adaptation. Read more >>

An Unfinished LifeRobert Redford's Electric in Lasse Hallstrom's Ranch Tale

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

Despite Jennifer Lopez, Cider House Rules director Lasse Hallstrom rises and shines in a Western-themed fable that puts Robert Redford back in the saddle. Read more >>

What's Eating Gilbert GrapeComing of Age in Iowa with Subtlety, Originality

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

Director Lasse Hallstrom unearths self-affirmation in an offbeat tale of duty and drudgery. Read more >>

Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio On Pirates of the Caribbean

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

Box Office Mojo interviews the writers who created Captain Jack Sparrow. Read more >>

Lasse Hallstrom On An Unfinished Life

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

As An Unfinished Life premieres on DVD, director Lasse Hallstrom talks about Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez and ABBA. Read more >>

Earl Holliman

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

With Police Woman finally on DVD, Box Office Mojo interviews the 1970s show's co-star, actor Earl Holliman, about his career, his chemistry with Angie Dickinson and the feminist attacks on the sexy show. Read more >>

Christopher Nolan

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

The Batman Begins director discusses comic books, the 1978 Superman and heroism, what makes a blockbuster, James Bond and and watching Mary Poppins with his family. Read more >>

Considering Kinsey: Let's Think About Sex

Originally published December 30, 2004 by Box Office Mojo

Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Passion of the Christ may have dominated movie headlines this year, but Fox Searchlight's Kinsey is probably the movie most likely to offend fans of both blockbusters—and possibly everyone else. With explicit sexuality, politics and religion, it was predictable that writer and director Bill Condon's biographically-themed picture about bow-tied biology professor Alfred Kinsey, regarded as a pervert by conservatives, would set talk radio tongues wagging with smears and rumors. Read more >>

Chris Van Allsburg Question and Answer with Writer Chris Van Allsburg

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

With Zathura on DVD, the nation’s top chidren’s book author and illustrator talks about his picture books, including The Polar Express, and the process of making his books into movies. Read more >>

Lasse Hallstrom On What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Originally published by Box Office Mojo

With a new DVD for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio, director Lasse Hallstrom talks about making the classic small town picture. Read more >>

Michael Paxton Championing the Example of Ayn Rand; Her Sense of Life Inspires Filmmaker

Originally published February 15, 1998 in Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

This month, Ayn Rand appears on the big screen—for the first time since her movie debut. Many people don't know that the author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" arrived in Hollywood as a penniless immigrant from the Soviet Union and was soon cast as an extra in Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 "King of Kings." Read more >>

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