FRENCH EXIT is a deft comedy that is low key but also pointed and deeply affecting, despite concerning itself with the trials and tribulations of a woman who has raised superficiality and self-absorption to a high art.
THE BOOKSHOP
Florence Green, the widowed heroine of THE BOOKSHOP, is a woman of patience, determination, and kindness. Qualities that would stand anyone in good stead, they are enough to get her dream of opening the eponymous entity in this evocative adaptation of the Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel. Whether they will be enough to keep it going in… Read More »
OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL
I was not a fan of the original OUIJA, which I found to be predictable in plot and pedestrian in execution. Its prequel, however, OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL, is (almost) the exact opposite. Set in 1967, it reveals what happened in that spooky craftsman cottage when Aunt Lina (Annalise Basso) was just a high-school sophomore… Read More »
Welcoming THE MEDDLER with Susan Sarandon and Lorene Scafaria
Lorene Scafaria had threatened her mother for a long time about making a movie based on their relationship and calling it THE MEDDLER. With this smart and heart-warming comedy, she has made good on that threat. Based on their relationship, with a few flourishes involving creative license, Scafaria has crafted the story of Marnie Minervini,… Read More »
CRIMINAL
CRIMINAL is a trifle of a thriller. Sure, guns are fired, things explode, and Ryan Reynolds meets a grisly end shortly after the flick begins, but the necessary tension to keep us all on the edge of our seats is noticeably lacking. What we are left with is an intriguing premise, Gary Oldman at his… Read More »