Monthly Archives: August 2016

So the plunge in “Suicide Squad” has begun. It set the August opening weekend record last Sunday night $135 million, but it was headed towards $144 at one time. And this weekend, with Thursday night late shows gone, it’s looking … Continue reading →

It all goes back to the Wit and Wisdom of Spock — classic Spock. Whatever each and every one of us does to “stretch,” to “get out of our comfort zones,” there’s a lot to be said for doing that … Continue reading →

Oh, to be a defense contractor in a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away. To be a Lockheed Martin or Halliburton with some sort of Emperor/Imperial Senate “no bid contract” arrangement. Because all those rubes want is … Continue reading →

  The new trailer to this Christmas’s new “Star Wars Story,” “Rogue One,” gives us a tantalizing international (and Oscar winning) cast, with flickers of Forest Whitaker, Felicity Jones, Donnie Yen, Diego Luna and others. The tone is straight “Heart … Continue reading →

Hirokazu Koreeda‘s “Our Little Sister” is a subtle, almost painfully slight character study about three young women whose opinions of their parents are enriched and polished when, after their wayward father dies, they take in a half-sister they never knew. Koreeda … Continue reading →

I won’t go so far as to call this the most disappointing summer for cinema in decades, but I think you could make the case for that. “Dismal”? Almost. “Desultory”? Most certainly. If you didn’t wet your nappies over “Captain … Continue reading →

The animation sparkles and delights in its detail, caricatures and computer-generated colors and craft. The setting is novel and seriously silly — a supermarket, where the food and household items can only live their lives — out in the open, … Continue reading →

In all her years of making movies, the one thing the undeniably brilliant Meryl Streep has never attempted is playing dotty — a dope. So now that she’s nearing that certain age, why not try her hand at a sort … Continue reading →

The Texas Dilemma is a delicious subtext lurking just beneath the surface of “Hell or High Water,” a terrific heist picture about brother-bankrobbers out to save-the-family-farm. Everybody in this “Last Picture Show” corner of West Texas hates the banks. “Been … Continue reading →

“Anthropoid” is a historical thriller about the efforts of a handful of Czechs to kill the murderous Nazi overlord of their country during World War II. It’s a riveting story artfully told, a magnificent movie about brave men undertaking a … Continue reading →