It’s only right that a revenge story with a savage punch line should also have a savage sense of humor. And so it is with PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a tale of rage against the patriarchy in which the testosterone-heavy are not the only problem, and one woman’s refusal to let a crime go unacknowledged makes… Read More »
WONDER WOMAN 1984
At one point in WONDER WOMAN 1984, it’s as if we are is dared to think of the phrase “cat fight” as Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) tangles with one of the two villains of the piece, played by Kristen Wiig. I don’t quite know what to make of that in this troubled film that is… Read More »
WILD MOUNTAIN THYME
John Patrick Shanley’s WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, based on his play Outside Mulligan, is a charmer of an Irish muddle. Committed in its gentle eccentricity, it essays to find the mythic in the quotidien and darn near pulls it off. At least sly humor abounds as the determined Rosemary (Emily Blunt) pines for Anthony (Jamie Dornan)… Read More »
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
Armando Iannucci, a man possessing a preternatural gift for telling serious stories with a puckish twist, has taken on the classic Dickens tale of David Copperfield, and infused it with sparkling new life while remaining true to the original’s spirit. After all, despite his sometimes cloying sentimentality, Dickens spared his readers nothing when describing the… Read More »
MADE IN ITALY
A story well told is always worth our attention, and thus it is with MADE IN ITALY, a heart-warming tale of coming to terms with the past in order to face a future without the burden of unresolved grief and lingering complacency. Set for the most part in the spectacular Tuscan countryside, its pacing and… Read More »
RADIOACTIVE
RADIOACTIVE tells a story of scientific curiosity in a world where personality skews the perception of the work itself, and politics are never far from the equation. It lays bare not just the injustice of that, but also its stupidity
1917
There is a moment during Sam Mendes’ masterpiece of a film, 1917, where a character is permitted to remove himself from the overwhelming, unrelenting now, and process both the facts of what he’s been through and the conjecture about what he’s about to face. During this moment, George MacKay, playing the appropriately named Will, gives… Read More »
LAST CHRISTMAS
LAST CHRISTMAS is a lugubrious exercise in muddled storytelling. Billed as a romantic comedy, there is little humor to be found as the romance between a klutz who’s lost her way in life, and the handsome stranger who pops in and out of that life fails to ignite past the infamous friend zone. The klutz… Read More »
DR. SLEEP
Click here for the flashback interview with Ewan McGregor for SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN. DR. SLEEP, the sequel to THE SHINING, faced several issues in being brought to the screen, and has done so with a neat aplomb. The original film veered wildly from its source material as Stanley Kubrick adapted it to fit… Read More »
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
Considering it only lasted two seasons in its initial run back in the 1960s, the television version of Charles Addam’s gruesomely enchanting New Yorker cartoon, The Addams Family, has become a powerful pop culture touchstone. It’s a favor that the current animated version amply repays, rife as it is with pop and political references. And… Read More »
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- …
- 16
- Next Page »