Monthly Archives: October 2016

  Fateful timing brings the Holocaust drama “Denial” into American theaters in the stretch run of the strangest presidential election in modern American history. Here’s a British film about a British lawsuit in which an unconscionable liar sued a widely-celebrated … Continue reading →

You’ll want to see the coming-of-age drama “Coming Through the Rye” to see Oscar winner Chris Cooper’s winning interpretation of reclusive novelist J.D. Salinger. It’s a blunt, measured and sympathetic take on a writer often depicted as angry, embittered, twisted … Continue reading →

Bullying, blood-spilling and a rising body count are the hallmarks of the Aussie “revenge comedy” “The Dressmaker.” It’s a darker-than-dark farce where the talent on hand is impressive, but the laughs are sparse and grimly won. Maybe you have to … Continue reading →

An unreliable narrator proves an unreliable eyewitness to a crime in “The Girl on the Train,” a tricky thriller whose tricks are less important than its riveting leading lady. Emily Blunt has the title role in this film, based on … Continue reading →

The late American journalist and fiction writer Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” has proven to have one of the most durable plots in all of fiction. A 1924 short story also known as “The Hounds of Zaroff,” is about … Continue reading →

How far into “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” did director Tim Burton get before he realized he’d split up with the only woman who could play the title role? Because it’s pretty obvious Eva Green is just a younger, duller interpretation … Continue reading →

All you need for screen romance is two characters, either in love, about to fall in love or remembering past love. But as simple as that template is, Hollywood rarely gets it right or even attempts to get it right. … Continue reading →

It seems so ludicrous, now. An American college student with a solid alibi and zero motive, almost no DNA evidence implicating her and no history of violence, arrested and convicted of taking part in a “sex party” ritualistic murder with … Continue reading →