David O. Russell adds another prestigious film notch on his directing belt with ""American Hustle", a story of a con, a double-cross , and a sting, all loosely based on the "Abscam" scandal that actually brought down several politicians, including a U.S. Senator....

The Golden Globe nominations are out, sometimes a precursor for the Oscars, and some of the most nominated films will be showing in your favorite mega-plex over the holidays. "American Hustle" from David O. Russell (no relation) leads the pack with 7 nominations (...

Parents rejoice, the folks at Disney have delivered one of their best Musical-Animation films since “The Lion King” or “Little Mermaid”, a magical PG film that will keep the whole family engaged. “Frozen” combines a nice story of Love Power. Loosely based on Hans...

This is going to be a tough year for Oscar voters in the Best Actor Category. Chewitel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”, Matthew McCaunahay in “Dallas Buyers Club”, Hugh Jackman in "Prisoners", and now 77 Year old Robert Redford in the best acting job of his life in “All...

Here's my appearance today on KARE 11's 4PM News, talking about this falls big films.

"Prisoners", directed beautifully by Denis Villeneuve, is a gritty child abduction thriller that coaxes first rate performances out of every cast member and grips us from beginning to end. Hugh Jackman plays Keller Dover, a suburban survivalist father of two and...

Luc Besson, the French director who gave us "La Femme Nikita", "The Professional", and "Taken", knows violence but has a lot to learn about comedy. "The Family" has an all-star cast, Robert Deniro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones, but Besson puts them in a...

Fans of A Prairie Home Companion know him as Garrison Keillor’s grumbling sidekick Dusty “The Lives of the Cowboys,” an array of wise-cracking wise-guys from the mean streets of “Guy Noir, Private Eye,” or Jim, the beleaguered husband from A Prairie Home Companion’s...

We had some fun at the "Prairie Home Companion" show at Chateau Saint Michelle Winery near Seattle this weekend, including a visit from the "President".

                      "A Prairie Home Companion" performed this week at the legendary Greek Theater in LA this weekend. We were joined by Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Paula Poundstone and musical powerhouses...

Fans of The Star Trek saga may nitpick, but if you are a casual fan of the Gene Roddenbery  creation and enjoyed the 2009 "Star Trek" release, you 'll definitely enjoy this sequel from director J.J. Abrams, "Star Trek: Into Darkness". I guess the darkness would be the...

Matthew McConaughey has been on a good run starting with the recent films, "Lincoln Lawyer","Bernie", and "Magic Mike" playing multifaceted characters with depth and skill, but I think he has outdone himself with "Mud", a coming of age film, a mashup of Huckleberry...

Monday night (3/25) I did the voice of Pope Benedict XVI on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in the monologue as part of a bit about the former Pope meeting the new Pope Francis to pray about "special" things. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW66QD-Ftmc

Jean-Jacques Mantello directs this throwback to the days of TV's "Wild Kingdom" in a way the old Mutual of Omaha folks could never deliver. Mantello's cameras get right up in the business of a veritable roll call of nature's biggest and best: rhinos, hippos,...

I should start by saying that, all things considered, the original "The Wizard of OZ" movie is still my favorite film of all time. Great music, characters, comedy, scares, heart, it has it all. So it's perhaps unfair to compare the original with this "prequel", "Oz,...

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xQx2_-653s&feature=em-uploademail

Here's Garrison Keillor's take on the latest PBS offering: Afton Abbey  

Here's a trailer for "Branches", a movie I did last February. Should see a screening of it in the next month or so. The writer director is Andrew Gingerich, I had a great time doing it. http://tinyurl.com/bhxnszz

I stopped by the KARE 11 Studios to give my thoughts on a few of the big movie releases over the Holidays. Here's a link. http://www.kare11.com/news/newsatfour/article/1003786/323/Tim-Russell-offers-up-holiday-season-movie-reviews

Matt Damon scores again as Steve Butler, an energy company salesperson assigned to acquire drilling rights in a small Pennsylvania farming community for the energy extraction process called hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as "Fracking". He faces opposition from a...

The insanely popular musical "Les Miserables" finally hits the screen, after decades of false starts, and fans of the musical will not be disappointed. Director Tom Hooper has a terrific cast of actors/singers who handle the sing- through screenplay with maximum...

Judd Apatow has marshaled the family again in "This is 40", which brings us up to date on the lives of two of the characters from his earlier film, "Knocked Up", Pete and Debbie, played by frequent collaborator Paul Rudd and Apatow's wife, the amazing Leslie Mann, in...

Peter Jackson has given us the first of three films with "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", based on J.R.R. Tolkien's book, the next two installments to be released in the next two years. Martin Freeman is wonderful as the young Bilbo Baggins, plucked from his...

"Silver Linings Playbook" is loaded with Oscar potential, thanks to an original concept and great performances by an all star cast. Bradley Cooper plays Philadelphian Pat Solitano, a bi-polar divorcee, just released from an institution, serving time for a violent...

Here's the latest entry on "Ask the Actors", featured on "The Prairie Home Companion" You Tube Channel. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYEHZ9dzfxE&feature=em  

"Lincoln", the latest Stephen Spielberg film does two things: it shows that politics have always been fascinating, and it proves that Daniel Day-Lewis is one of our finest actors. The film is a far cry from the special effects extravaganzas Spielberg is know for (The...

The long awaited conclusion to "The Twilight Saga", "Breaking Dawn Part 2", picks up where Part 1 left off, Edward (Rob Pattinson) and Bella's (Kristen Stewart) part human child Renesmee  (MacKenzie Foy eventually becomes the face , Benjamin Button style, of the...