cinematic roots of: ‘Red’

In Red, retired super secret agents including Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Morgan Freeman come out of retirement — unofficially — to investigate a nasty coverup at the highest levels of government of a terrible crime. This flick sprang from (among other films)…

cinematic roots of: ‘Secretariat’

In Secretariat, a true story of the fastest horse ever to win the Triple Crown, his owner (Diane Lane) takes huge business risks to promote and race the animal in a time — the 1970s — when women making multimillion-dollar deals was not the done thing. This flick sprang from (among other films)…

cinematic roots of: ‘Life as We Know It’

In Life as We Know It, Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel can’t stand each other, but agree to raise the orphaned child of their friends anyway, because an environment of seething resentment and hatred is hardly different from what other kids grow up in. This flick sprang from (among other films)…

cinematic roots of: ‘Case 39’

In Case 39, Renee Zellweger plays a social worker who rescues a child (Jodelle Ferland) from abusive parents only to discover that perhaps it was the demon child who was abusing her guardians. This flick sprang from (among other films)…