Yearly Archives: 2016

Yeah, it came too soon. Like his candidacy, his presidency, his premature Nobel Prize. But “Southside with You” is a lovely little Michelle and Barack first-date romance, a celebration of a symbolic presidency and a classy First Couple. This understated … Continue reading →

Two things every sports fan remembers about the boxer Roberto Duran — that his nickname, “Hands of Stone” (“Manos de Piedra“) came from his ferocious, knock-out delivering fists — and “No mas,” the infamous phrase attached to a fight he … Continue reading →

This one opens Sept. 2, and stars Allison Pill as a comic book artist who conjures up a filmmaker (Gael Garcia Bernal) in a spec script, stumbles into some drugs and connects to the custom-made sex doll business. And then … Continue reading →

A little Catholic boy tries to stop his dad’s downward spiral into alcohol and poverty in “The Confirmation,” a bleak but funny comedy from the screenwriter of “Nebraska.” What writer/director Bob Nelson has dreamed up here is a “Bicycle Thieves” … Continue reading →

Had to happen. I mean, last weekend had “Florence Foster Jenkins,” “Anthropoid,” “Pete’s Dragon” and “Sausage Party” opening wide, “Hell or High Water” opening wider. And all were at least pretty good (“Pete’s Dragon”) and most were outstanding. So this … Continue reading →

It’s been a pretty good year for faith-based films, with “Risen” and “Miracles from Heaven” showing that Hollywood can get stories about Jesus and those who worship him right. The latest remake of “Ben-Hur” pretty much lets down the side, … Continue reading →

In “War Dogs,” a couple of homeys from Hebrew School take on the job of selling arms and ammunition to the U.S. military — for a big profit, of course. Because not everybody who got rich off the invasion of Iraq … Continue reading →

Actor turned actor/director Nate Parker and his film,  “Birth of a Nation”, were sensations at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. A whopping $17.5 million was paid for the rights to this account of the slave rebellion Virginian Nat Turner led … Continue reading →

Steve Gleason is a smart, articulate and self-aware retired NFL star whose life on the field was defined by one play — a blocked 2006 punt that came to symbolize his team’s and his city’s comeback from the devastation of … Continue reading →

“Indignation,” the latest Philip Roth novel to make it to the big screen, hangs on a trio of absolutely delicious if somewhat delusional confrontations — big scenes between its young hero, a secular Jew debating his Protestant academic dean about … Continue reading →