It was a bold choice to make a woman the primary narrator of THE BIKERIDERS. Based on the photo book of the same name, and the interviews within it by Danny Lyon, it details the rise of the Vandals biker club in 1950s Chicago and takes us through its golden era that lasted until the… Read More »
KNIVES OUT
KNIVES OUT takes a brisk pace with its cinematic legerdemain as its cast expertly calibrate their performances so that arch never strays into the certain disaster of becoming artificial. The result is a giddily entertaining, emotionally engaging film that sets a new standard for its genre, and, if there is any justice, will launch the Benoit Blanc franchise.
THE CURRENT WAR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT
THE CURRENT WAR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT is an elegantly realized intellectual thriller which considers not only the eternal struggle between art and commerce, but also the effect of personalities on inventing the future. In this case, three visionaries, Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla. Each with a particular kind of genius, each with idiosyncrasies… Read More »
ELVIS & NIXON
If the essence of acting is the willing suspension of disbelief, then you will find no better example than that shared by Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey in and as, respectively, ELVIS & NIXON. Based on the improbable meeting between the two in December 1970, it is a fanciful, and at times unexpectedly moving, reimagining… Read More »
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is a film that plays with its audience’s sense of normality. Beginning in the conventional and slowly, almost imperceptibly, moving us from the quotidian drama of a kidnapped child and a father’s unconditional love, into a boldly unconventional consideration of that elusive point where science and spirituality merge. There is nothing predictable here,… Read More »
PREMIUM RUSH
Told with a frenetic, breakneck style that nicely evokes the anarchic life- and riding style of the most dedicated bike messengers, Premium Rush is a thrill-packed entertainment designed to be both diverting and fun. The which it is and then some thanks to the cast of solid actors and a story that is almost never… Read More »
ICEMAN, THE
That THE ICEMAN is a film eminently worth seeing is a tribute to Michael Shannon. The true story of Richard Kuklinski, aka The Iceman, is a conventionally told tale of organized crime, but Shannon, as the cold-blooded hitman with a schizophrenic tenderness for his family is riveting. Through the film is a lesser light, as… Read More »