Click here to listen to the interview. Pete Holmes and Jamie Lee were in the middle of their media blitz for the second season of their HBO series, CRASHING, when we met for a chat on January 17, 2018. The grind of the road did nothing to dampen their either exuberance or their whip-smart humor.… Read More »
TRAIN TO BUSAN (Busanhaeng)
New zombies, new rules. If TRAIN TO BUSAN did nothing but find a new take on zombies, it would be worth your time, but this Korean gem goes the extra yardage to gift us with an engrossing story that contains only a soupçon of well-regulated sappy sentiment. It’s far more interested in observing what happens… Read More »
MAGGIE’S PLAN
The eponymous Maggie of MAGGIE’S PLAN is a wisp of a winsome waif, a college career counselor with a gentle demeanor and a determined resolve that can move mountains. As played with a solemn quirkiness by Greta Gerwig, she is a woman who aims to live both honestly and ethically. Alas, her aim is less… Read More »
Rebecca Miller Explains MAGGIE’S PLAN
I love how Rebecca Miller’s mind works. With the eponymous Maggie of her film, MAGGIE’S PLAN, she has brought to life a character who manipulates other for their own good, and still seems like the great-hearted soul. And she’s made it a wickedly smart comedy. Perhaps it was only Greta Gerwig who could have pulled… Read More »
Shlomi Elkabetz Records GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM
GETT, the Hebrew word for a bill of divorce, is the third film in a trilogy made by brother-and-sister filmmakers Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz. The theme, as Shlomi explained to me on October 6, 2014, is freedom, specifically women’s freedom in the modern world. Inspired by their mother’s life, it’s a contemplation on the nature… Read More »
OLD DOGS
OLD DOGS has a strong cast fighting a script that is labored, stale, and obvious. That cast is led by John Travolta and Robin Williams, both of whom are no strangers to comedy, nor to miscalculations when it comes to choosing scripts. They are Charlie and Dan, pals and business partners of 30 years. While… Read More »
A SEPARATION
With A SEPARATION, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has taken the most ordinary of stories, played out by the most ordinary of people, and created an extraordinary work about the tangential relationship between justice and the law, honesty and truth. How good intentions can go horribly wrong, and because of them, the most considered, logical lie… Read More »
DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE
The subject matter of this intimate documentary belies its breezy title, a title imposed, of course, by the commissioning editors with an eye towards its marketing potential. Made by Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, it shows the casual brutality inflicted upon women in a country that views independent females with suspicion and, perhaps, even fear. Mir… Read More »
Josh Lucas Visits SWEET HOME ALABAMA
Josh Lucas has so far made a career of playing less than savory characters, from a vapid narcissist in AMERICAN PSYCHO to a sleazy club owner leading a minor astray in THE DEEP END. With Jake, the not-quite-ex-husband of Reese Witherspoon’s Melanie in SWEET HOME ALABAMA, he gets to play a nice guy for a change,… Read More »