Falling into the subgenre of dinner parties gone disastrously wrong, THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA, an astringent black comedy of ethics, finds five people who have been friends since their university days being forced by one of them to re-evaluate everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other. By the end of what will… Read More »
WONKA
It would have been more wrong than I can enumerate not to reference 1971’s WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY in its prequel, WONKA. Hence the purple cutaway coat, the top hat, and not just the only possible Oompa-Loompa song, but also the signature wistfulness of “Pure Imagination” by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newly. Screenwriters… Read More »
THE FRONT RUNNER
a thoughtful, anarchically lively, film about the obligations of the candidate and the responsibilities of the press that force us to question both
VENOM
We none of us, least of all your humble correspondent, lives in a vacuum. So perhaps it’s because I’ve recently seen THE PREDATOR that the mere, yet aggressive, mediocrity of VENOM did not make for a completely awful cinematic experience. Which is not to say that this ploddingly plotted effort is good, but for sheer… Read More »
PASSENGERS
PASSENGERS is a long, increasingly preposterous slog whose most tantalizing element is the question of why Jennifer Lawrence looks so very much like a young Renee Zellweger in some shots. Has there always been such a striking resemblance, or is it that this film is so tedious and predictable that one has the time to… Read More »
EQUITY — Meera Menon, Sarah Megan Thomas, and Alysia Reiner Interview
Gender equity is the inevitable topic of conversation when talking about EQUITY, a sharply observed and uncompromising examination of women on Wall Street in the 2010s. And so it was on July 15, 2016 when I talked with director Meera Menon, and co-stars/co-producers Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas, who is also one of the… Read More »
Gavin Hood on EYE IN THE SKY
Gavin Hood not only directed EYE IN THE SKY, the erstwhile actor also took a small role as a military officer overseeing drone pilots. It was one of the things we didn’t have time to talk about on March 2, 2016 when we sat down to discuss his brilliant new film that respects its audience,… Read More »
Parker Posey Ponders IRRATIONAL MAN
How is it possible that this is the first time Parker Posey has worked with Woody Allen? It’s a question for the ages, but the answer to how they finally collaborated came about in a way perfectly suited to the metaphysical questions posed by their film, IRRATIONAL MAN. In it, Allen ponders whether or not… Read More »
A Philosophical IRRATIONAL MAN
Some of Woody Allen’s best films deal with the problem of absolute ethics in a world that is full of moral ambiguity. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS beings the epitome of his musings on the subject, with lesser, but no less satisfying efforts such as MATCH POINT continuing the dialogue. In IRRATIONAL MAN, Allen has crafted another… Read More »
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR Is A Most Excellent Film
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR begins, appropriately enough, with its protagonist, Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) running. Though this is merely jogging through the snowy landscape of 1981 New York, he will spend the rest of the film running more purposefully either literally, figuratively, or both, as he scrambles to overcome fate and the fickleness of human… Read More »