As a fan of Japanese history and culture and having read positive reviews, I was looking forward to spending the next couple weeks watching the ten-part Shogun. Episode 1, however, left me annoyed, despite the wonderful costumes and pageantry. How could John Blackthorn emerge from the wasted schooner, where starvation had struck the crew, with a […]
Two good in-flight movies, following basic formulas: boy-meets-girl for Anyone But You and coming of age for Blinded By the Light. There are no surprises, but attractive leads make the predictable stories fun to watch. Blinded, of course, benefits from a soundtrack of great Bruce Springsteen songs. Anyone left me with the question of what makes a relationship? […]
Taking a cue from the Oscars and in another way the Golden Globes, I have divided my Top Ten for 2023 into two categories: five of the very best were foreign-language films, and I was able to cobble together five respectable movies in English. Contrary to what the critics said, and seem to say every […]
I felt I was watching My Dinner With Andre, times three or four, held in a rural, charmless Turkish village in winter, in the snow. The “hero” tested the viewer’s sympathy by lying to his student, psychologically abusing her, betraying his roommate, taking advantage of a disabled woman and being a crappy teacher. But he was […]
What better setting for a horror flick than a convent somewhere out in the Italian countryside? When Sydney Sweeney, playing a young naif from Detroit, takes her vows in a foreign tongue she little expects that the Immaculate Conception of the movie’s title will be thrust, unwillingly as 20 centuries before, upon her. The Catholic […]
As good as Timothee Chalamet was in Wonka, he’s that bad in Dune. His thin frame and wispy good looks do not an action hero make. I suppose there is a story, as the film is based on a famous book, but I couldn’t discern it. The ‘2’ in the title might have tipped me off to the […]
Maybe if you’re a big fan of Jon Batiste or a personal friend of his wife…
Matteo Garrone, a master director, created multiple vivid and convincing worlds: the shanties of Dakar, the emptiness of the Sahara, the hellholes of Libya, the turbulence of a Mediterranean crossing, just to name his principal locations. The artistry of his shots also fed the most beautiful closing credits I’ve ever seen. The settings were secondary, […]
Lest I forget, I should thumbnail the seven films I saw at SBIFF (not counting the extra-festival free showing of Zone of Interest), from best to worst: Wicked Little Letters – our best festival experience, augmented by having our names as sponsors highlighted before both showings. Jessie Buckley should get a BAFTA nomination for her […]
The charisma and warmth of Kingsley Ben-Adir’s face and Bob Marley’s reggae music make this film a joyful experience, even if the dialogue is hard to decipher and the plot rarely goes beyond this-happened-then-that-happened. The supporting characters are colorful and convincing, but it is the songwriting and performing that carry the day.
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