Emilia Jones steals your heart in this year’s crowd-pleaser, not just with her winsome charm but her amazing singing, and signing. The plot is over-the-top obvious, with every plot point telegraphed from the moment it’s introduced, but it’s still a fun ride. Troy Kotsur is endearing as the father, but Marlee (“I’m a famous actor”) […]
This was Aaron Sorkin in overdrive, with every scene in a five-day period a crisis, and more issues than I could count. Unfortunately–and this was a big problem–I could never accept Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz (whom I don’t know). He was too big, too physical, too much Javier Bardem, and I couldn’t sense any […]
A disjointed series of rather fantastical episodes, linked only by the only slightly less fantastical relationship between Gary and Alana, a relationship we didn’t know whether to root for or cringe at. Cooper Hoffman and, especially, Alana Haim were faultless in their roles and fun to watch, remarkable for first-time actors without great looks, and […]
A taut psychological thriller that played out, almost entirely, on Olivia Colman’s face, photographed in intense close-up the whole way. The setting and characters were wonderfully reminiscent of the other Elena Ferrante books I’d read, a surprising achievement for a first-time American director. Jessie Buckley was just as good as the young Leda, but I […]
As a sucker for broad comedy (see, e.g., Monty Python), especially when it leans in my political direction, I enjoyed every minute of Adam McKay’s latest satire. Low expectations, based on word-of-mouth criticism that it was too obvious or just too much, undoubtedly helped. While it’s unfair to single out any of the star-studded cast, […]
A theoretically dramatic story of the cave-diving rescue of 12 trapped boys in Thailand in 2018, this documentary somehow left me cold. Maybe because I compared it to the superior Free Solo by the same directors. Visually, 40% was talking heads, 40% faceless swimmers in dark, muddy water. Many of the action scenes were unannounced […]
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, or Belfast–Italian Style, Paolo Sorrentino’s love letter to growing up in Naples in the 1980s captures La Famiglia in all its frictions and closeness. His style is distinctive: every scene is short and self-contained, without musical background (except once). His characters, too, are distinctive: the lusty […]
Billed a “fable,” this is more a ghost story, about a haunted Lady Di. I lost emotional attachment early on, when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to understand Kristen Stewart’s breathy, stage-whispered dialogue and that the portrait being painted of a hallucinating, bulimic princess hounded by a monolithic, unfeeling royal family was so […]
My Fair Lady has the best songs, but West Side Story has the best score of any Broadway musical, and it was a treat to hear it (conducted by Gustavo Dudamel) on a big screen in a big theater (with only two other people). The story of Romeo (Tony) and Juliet (Maria) has stood the test […]
The three hours address, in turn, three separate relationships: Kafuku and his wife; Kafuku and Takatsuki, the reckless young actor; Kafuku and his 23-year-old driver. None is resolved. Hidetoshi Nishijima as Kafuku experiences one intense emotion after another with hardly a tremor’s difference in his expression. A Buddhist upbringing, perhaps? In any case, his face […]
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