Review: A Quiet Place Embraces Its Genre, and Masters It
John Krasinski (who you most likely know as Jim from The Office) has directed three features films: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men in 2009; The Hollars in 2016; and now […]
Review: A Murder Investigation in Neon and Synth Beats in Gemini
It’s become clear over the years that writer-director Aaron Katz has been making films (including Land Ho! and Cold Weather, to name two of his most recent) that he has […]
Review: Gripping 1945 Is a Crisp, Impressive Day of Reckoning
This fascinating work from Hungarian director Ferenc Török (No Man’s Island, East Side Stories) combines story elements including the immediate aftermath of World War II, the beginnings of Russia’s occupation […]
Review: Finding Your Feet Avoids Ageism, Delivers on Heart and Laughs
One of the first things you notice about the latest from director Richard Loncraine (Brimstone & Treacle, The Missionary, 1995’s Richard III, Wimbledon) is that in a film whose entire […]
Review: Overly Sentimental The Miracle Season Lacks Authenticity
When a docudrama ends with a collection of photos and film/video of the real events you’ve just seen dramatized, it’s really easy to wonder why the filmmakers didn’t attempt a […]
What to Watch on Netflix and DVD: April 2018
Netflix’s slate of April releases contains a fair number of acknowledged classics, including Se7en, Scarface, and Life is Beautiful. If you’ve seen all those films already, however, here are some […]
Review: Aggravating, Dumb Birthmarked Totally Misses the Mark
This odd little family tale of two respected, married scientists, Ben Morin (Matthew Goode) and Catherine Morin (Toni Collette), is essentially an exercise in figuring out who among the characters […]
Review: Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer as an Artistic Odd Couple in Final Portrait
In his latest effort as a writer/director, Stanley Tucci (Big Night, The Imposters) has taken what is essentially a footnote in the long career of artist and known lothario Alberto […]
Review: Steeped in Nostalgia, Spielberg’s Ready Player One is Youthful, In-Your-Face Fun
There are those who think that living in the past and allowing nostalgia to be a chief driving force in your life is a bad thing, and it certainly can […]
Review: Stop Motion Animation Wows in Anderson’s Touch-and-Go Isle of Dogs
In a similar way that writer/director Wes Anderson’s previous feature, The Grand Budapest Hotel, seemed to spring forth from his current obsessions with filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch and the writings of […]
Review: Charming Romcom Keep The Change Does the Genre Good
Despite its formulaic nature, making a decent romcom isn’t easy to do. It’s the reason films like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle remain mainstays, classics of happily […]
Review: Coming of Age with a Twist in Flower
One of the things I noticed immediately when scanning the credits for director/co-writer Max Winkler’s (Ceremony) latest work, Flower, is that it’s executive produced by David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, […]