Monthly Archives: October 2014

“Nightcrawler” has Jake Gyllenhaal as an amoral thief and sociopath  (Aspergerger’s, maybe a little?) who takes up freelance TV news crime and crash videography, and makes his mark in it. Feels a little dated in terms of its media savvy, … Continue reading →

Bloody, brutal and melodramatic, “Revenge of the Green Dragons” is a straight-up gang war thriller whose release is “presented” by Martin Scorsese. The master of Italian-American mob movies saw much to like, and much that is familiar in this story … Continue reading →

Three of the best actors in the business put on a master class in mystery thriller in “Before I Go to Sleep,” a lean, twisty-turning tale in the “Memento” style. Christine (Nicole Kidman) wakes up each day confused. Her eyes … Continue reading →

A gaunt Jake Gyllenhaal rarely blinks in “Nightcrawler,” turning himself into a chilling human special effect. As a focused but directionless petty thief who does discovers the rewards of recording and selling video to “If it bleeds, it leads” local … Continue reading →

Documentary filmmaking rewards the obsessive. You have to be obsessed to dive into and put in the endless hours to finish your film, often in the thin hopes that PBS, a cable channel or Netflix will show it to the … Continue reading →

That miss-or-hit collection of horror shorts, “The ABCs of Death” becomes more hit or miss with its sequel, “ABCs of Death 2.” Not to be confused with the similar “VHS” horror omnibus, “ABCs” gives up-and-coming horror writer-directors — more than … Continue reading →

The die was for Jon Cryer way back when “Pretty in Pink” launched him in the movies. He’d always be the doormat, the witty loser who never gets the girl. All he had to look forward to was getting older … Continue reading →