What distinguishes America, according to a character in this movie, is “imagination,” which might be another word for greed. Director Tony Tost gives us an array of mid- to low-lifes, the kind you might find at a remote Badlands diner, in a smart, funny take on American dreams, in the language of Quentin Tarantino, which […]
Very indie. Writer/director/star Eva Victor is charmingly quirky (or quirkily charming?) as an English professor (really?), her inexplicable bff (Naomie Ackie) not so much. The random chapters reminded me of a collection of ’60s-era New Yorker short stories. Once I got over the seeming aimlessness and screechy sound I settled in and felt proud to […]
This six-chapter horror film had me alternately cringing in my seat and laughing out loud. Writer/director Zach Cregger adroitly handled the mashup of quotidian and supernatural with a style that was engaging and captivating and kept you from questioning the absurdity of it all, right up to the explosive ending. Josh Brolin and Julia Garner […]
It was formulaic, but why shouldn’t it be? It’s fun to immerse yourself in a different world, and Formula 1 is that. Not understanding the sport, I couldn’t tell how accurate it was or even understand what was happening, which was probably a plus. Instead I could just admire Brad Pitt being Brad Pitt, the […]
Silly. Not a lot of laughs (one chuckle) and the rest was ridiculous.
A stunningly well made biopic that not only captures Billy Joel, it explains. The filmmakers weave together archival footage, contemporary interviews, talking heads, studio sessions, concert performances and critical comments, all with the nonpareil soundtrack of Joel’s first six albums. His first wife Elizabeth emerges as the hero of his career amid struggles that were […]
The first film I’ve seen to baldly tackle the political dysfunction/divide/disaster that is the American fringe today, hitting bang-bang-bang on Covid masks, Black Lives Matter, gun culture, cults, indigenous rights, political distortion–what have I left out? Perhaps in trying to do too much, the plot is full of unresolved red herrings and relies on mysterious […]
A thoroughly charming cinematic representation of Alexandra Fuller’s riveting 2001 memoir about the 1980 transfer of white to Black power as Rhodesia was reborn as Zimbabwe. The story is told through the eyes and actions of seven-year-old actress Lexi Venter in an astonishing performance, while her innocence is matched by her psychologically fierce and tormented […]
Less a story than a scrapbook account of moving one’s mother to a memory-care facility. Kathleen Chalfant is superb as the regal 80-year-old who has retained her culinary skills but has no inkling of who the people around her are. Sympathetic, not maudlin, the picture it presents of a stage in life we have experienced […]
After time spent watching streamers it felt good to sit in a theater and see characters on a big screen with lush scenery behind them. Beyond that, this film was largely forgettable, although it left me wondering what its title meant. Camille Rutherford was fine as the Austen-besotted would-be writer, but the main attraction, for […]
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