Lauren Veneziani

It’s been five years since we were first introduced to super villain Gru (Steve Carell), the lovely three girls he adopted, and his adorable yellow Minions who can only speak in Minion talk, yet have assisted Gru in stealing the moon and capturing other villains for the Anti-Villain League. But how did these little yellow guys come to find Gru, and what was their life like before they met him? Minions is a sweet prequel highlighting these little yellow supporting characters of the Despicable Me films and their journey in finding their new villain mastermind.

One of the most striking, memorable, and talked about films of 2014 has finally come to Blu-ray. Director Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper dominated the box office, earning over $543 million worldwide, and received much praise from both critics and mainstream audiences. The film also received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and had one win for Best Sound Editing.

Two things are certain after watching Pitch Perfect 2, the sequel to the 2012 surprise cult classic Pitch Perfect: 1) It’s not as smart or as good as the first and 2) Rebel Wilson is a fantastic comedic actress that makes any movie better.

If you could live forever, what would you do? How would you have a family? Would you live your life in secret, changing homes and aliases every decade? Or would you try to live a normal life? That is exactly what Adaline Bowman must decide in The Age of Adaline.

Furious 7 has been one of the most anticipated films of 2015. With the Fast & Furious franchise earning over $2.3 billion worldwide at the box office since the original film was released in 2001, the franchise has proven to grow even stronger and gain even more fans in these last few years.

Walt Disney’s live-action Cinderella is everything fans of the beloved fairy tale want and more. It’s magical, colorful, beautiful, exciting, and leaves the audience with an encouraging and important message of kindness and courage.

A mix of the Thomas Crown Affair and Ocean’s Eleven, Focus is a surprisingly fun flick that’s outrageous in its plot twists and thrills in the best way possible. Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love) give us a fun heist story, while Will Smith and Margot Robbie elevate the plot with their electric chemistry.

A story about tremendous loss, heartbreak, addiction, forgiveness, and recovery, Cake is a beautiful and inspiring film driven by a note-worthy performance by Jennifer Aniston.

Written and directed by Claudia Myers, who spent five years making documentaries and training videos for the United States military, Fort Bliss follows one female soldier’s journey back home after a 15-month deployment.  Sergeant Maggie Swann (Michelle Monaghan) is an

This Is Where I Leave You is over the top and out of this world wild, with almost no redeemable characters to ground the story.  What could have been a realistic storytelling of a dysfunctional family turns into a game

Films based on dystopian novels have become wildly popular in the last few years. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games hit the big screen two years ago starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, with the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire following in 2013. Earlier

Warning: Spoilers ahead! The popular espionage series The Americans premiered its second season Wednesday night on FX. The show focuses on two Russian spies (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) who pose as a married couple in D.C. during the 1980s. The

The Broadcast Film Critics Association held their 19th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards in Santa Monica, CA last night. The show was broadcasted live on The CW, but Breitbart News was their to witness the actors reactions first hand. The

With the holiday season quickly approaching, we are bound to see some new Christmas movies hit the big screen and some favorites that always replay on television the closer we get to the holiday. But how many of those movies

Last Vegas is an excuse for some Hollywood A-listers to get together, hang out, beat up guys half their age and score a major paycheck. Last Vegas could’ve been the older generation’s version of The Hangover, but instead it succumbs

Director/writer Richard Curtis (2003’s Love Actually) steps up his game in the romantic comedy genre by adding a more serious underlying theme in About Time. His typical rom-com flair is pushed to the side a bit in order to unveil

First-time director and screenwriter Peter Landesman tells the story of the chaotic events that occurred in Dallas on November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Parkland is based on the true accounts of the people behind

Watching Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity is the closest I could possibly know what being in space might feel like. There are a few memorable films about life in space including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apollo 13 and even Armageddon; but Gravity

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the best actors working today. He’s proven his versatility with films like Brick, Inception, (500) Days of Summer and Looper. By starring in unconventional romantic comedies to original thought-provoking thrillers, you can’t stereotype this actor

Rush is one of those films where the studio releases a weak trailer because they aren’t quite sure how to market the movie. The first trailer looked like a melodramatic soap opera; the second trailer was 100 percent Chris Hemsworth

The musical documentary is becoming quite popular in Hollywood lately. In 2011, there was Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, in which director Jon Chu gave us a first-hand account of how the young singer became one of the most famous

Getaway could have been a successful five-minute short about the Shelby Super Snake Mustang. It’s the hour and 25 minutes around those five decent minutes that are completely horrible. Director Courtney Solomon’s Getaway is the one of the most boring

How is it that two of the best horror films of the past few years were sitting on the shelf for years before a studio scooped them up? Luckily, Lionsgate picked up producer/co-writer Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods, one of my

Before you jump to conclusions that Lovelace is a biopic strictly about the porn industry and Linda Lovelace’s role in it, remember not to judge a film by its trailer. It’s more than an indictment of the pornography business; the

Earlier this year, we saw This is the End, which including Hollywood’s A-list comedians playing heightened versions of themselves. It was hysterical but ended up being a bit forgettable in the weeks after its release. In a year where we

Considering the last time we saw Hugh Jackman flash those retractable claws in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, (a major disappointment), The Wolverine is pretty darn good. The Wolverine picks up not long after 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, where Logan/Wolverine

The To Do List is full of ’90s nostalgia, hilarious one-liners and a talented ensemble of comedic actors. Director and writer Maggie Carey’s film had a lot of promise with it being that rare teen sex comedy from a female

Director and screenwriter Nicolas Winding Refn has made several interesting and versatile films since he started in Hollywood. Those include the Pusher series, Bronson, Valhalla Rising and my all-time favorite, Drive. Drive is one of the best films of the

Whoever thought that snails would be the focus of an enjoyable 3D animated film one day? It seems like animation has brought almost everything to life … cars, bugs, monsters, minions, robots, planes and even a toaster (remember that one?)

We’ve seen a few fantastic animated films released this year. DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods was original and fun and last month Disney Pixar’s Monsters University, the satisfying prequel to the 2001 film, brought in over $170 million at the box office. Universal Pictures’

It’s rare when a sequel, and in this case a prequel, tops the original. Disney Pixar’s newest film Monsters University is a prequel to the 2001 film Monsters, Inc. MU is as every bit funny, colorful, charming and delightful as

Inspired by actual events that took place between October 2008 through August 2009, Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring follows fame-obsessed teenagers who robbed celebrities’ homes. Coppola’s screenplay is based off of the Vanity Fair article written by Nancy Jo Sales titled,

The Purge is one of those movies that has an intriguing premise but is cheapened by clichéd thriller scares and stupid decisions made by the characters. What could have been one of the most memorable and intense films of the

Who would’ve thought that director and screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan would eventually become a laughing stock? The director who made incredible films like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable then made films like The Happening, The Last Airbender and now After

The Fast & Furious franchise is certainly a peculiar one. An extremely fun time at the theatres, no doubt about that, but how is it that average-ranking films about race cars, muscle guys and half-naked women make its way to

It’s completely acceptable to watch and enjoy a predictable, fun, feel-good romantic comedy. But if that comedy is manipulative and treats the viewers like children, then it cheapens the film, making it unbearable to watch. There are two main problems