Monthly Archives: November 2016

There’s this almost-forgotten Keanu Reeves movie, a formulaic kids’ sports comedy called “Hardball.” It had the great fortune of being the first lightweight film to arrive in theaters after the tragedy of 9/11, and audiences embraced it because it gave … Continue reading →

Few of us can imagine the awfulness of losing a child in one of America’s ever-growing list of senseless mass shootings at school. And if the parents of Rachel Joy Scott, the first victim of 1999’s Columbine High School massacre, … Continue reading →

There’s a lot to be said for movies that use the ever-improving state of the digital art to recreate historical events too expensive to film in the old fashioned way. And the digital Japanese kamikaze planes, submarine and the recreated … Continue reading →

The vast majority of us are so far removed from any common farming past that we idealize it and the people who live that lifestyle. “Peter and the Farm” is a sober reminder of how hard and callous that life … Continue reading →

So this holiday film season will get a nice goosing from “Doctor Strange,” Marvel’s origin story for another character in the Marvel universe, a spare-no-expense dazzler of the eye candy genre. A desultory fall film season desperately needs this to … Continue reading →

“Doctor Strange” is Marvel’s “Avatar,” the “Inception” of comic book adaptations. The effects are that dazzling, the images so trippy, eye-popping and ground-breaking that one is tempted to scrap the normal “credits” for a recitation of the unsung architects of … Continue reading →

Proto-punks Iggy and the Stooges were once and have remained an acquired rock taste, and “Gimme Danger” won’t  change that. Jim Jarmursch’s History of The Stooges won’t convert many. But you will walk away with an appreciation that goes beyond … Continue reading →

A quick post-mortem, then, on “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” a caper comedy that neither capers nor gives birth to many laughs. It has Zach Galifianakis, who broke out in “The Hangover” movies and is finding great humor on TV … Continue reading →

With its garish colors, bubbly production numbers and kid-friendly fart and poop jokes, there are plenty of reminders that “Trolls” really isn’t for you or me while you’re watching it. Even if their favorite hobby is scrapbooking. OK, especially since … Continue reading →

Mel Gibson seeks cinematic redemption for his non-cinematic sins by going to his safe space with “Hacksaw Ridge,” a violent and visceral combat movie that doubles as a faith-based film. His name isn’t on the advertising, but “Hacksaw,” the story … Continue reading →