Yearly Archives: 2016

If college cinema professors aren’t teaching “The Screen Gems View of Urban Affluence and its Impact on African American Aspiration,” then somebody is seriously missing the mark. The studio, which gets by on random horror hits and the occasional franchise … Continue reading →

The voice of skepticism is sorely missed in Oliver Stone’s credulous bio-pic, “Snowden.” But Stone doesn’t really do skepticism, characters playing the Devil’s Advocate, contrary voices. He didn’t have that to impedge his groveling before Hugo Chavez in the documentary … Continue reading →

Travis a thirtyish musician cobbling together a living in New York, playing jingles, interviewing folks on the street about their toothpaste. But the wedding of an ex-girlfriend has him taking stock. “I’ve been thinking I need to make some changes.” … Continue reading →

The voices hiss off the cassette tapes, Cold War moments frozen in time. Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok can be heard on them. His actress-wife, Choi Eun-hee made the recordings, and is heard as well. But the star, the riveting presence … Continue reading →

Building a musical around an English neighborhood where five prostitutes were murdered is no slam-dunk of an idea, I don’t care what “Sweeney Todd” would say. But, hey, Tom Hardy SINGS in “London Road,” a BBC Films production based on … Continue reading →

You don’t have to remember the 1943 mid-WWII Oscar winning “The Human Comedy” to realize that Meg Ryan’s version, “Ithaca,” is missing something. Sentimental and slow, this “Life on the Homefront” melodrama lacks the pathos and punch of its predecessor. … Continue reading →

JT LeRoy was literature’s most “unreliable narrator.” An invented writer with a lurid, invented past and a talent appreciated mostly because of that fabrication, Jeremy “Terminator” LeRoy fooled the supposedly hip New York literary scene, and movie stars, rock stars, … Continue reading →

Computer-assisted animation has gotten so sharp, detailed and fluid that it’s almost a given that any animated film with any ambition at all is going to look sharp. “The Wild Life,” a European riff on the story of Robinson Crusoe, … Continue reading →

The great James Caan classes up and adds a modicum of mystery to “The Good Neighbor,” a teens-torment-the-wrong-old-man thriller in the “Don’t Breathe” vein. Or rather, that’s how it’s pitched. And had the filmmakers seen “Don’t Breathe” early enough, there … Continue reading →

Well, like most Americans, I had no doubts — zero — about the heroism and grace under pressure of U.S. Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. But I do now, thanks to “Sully.” So, thanks for that, Clint Eastwood. “Sully” was … Continue reading →