Monthly Archives: January 2017

That, to me, is the only “story” in this year’s Academy Awards nominations. Meryl Streep makes a “Suffragette” worthy speech at the Golden Globes, a tirade against Trump. And the lightly-regarded “Florence Foster Jenkins” and her adorable, vulnerable turn in … Continue reading →

Judging from the opening weekend box office take, M. Night Shyamalan has a future…in January movies. His self-penned “Split”, a real showcase for the scenery-chewing multi-personality skills of James McAvoy, is on its way to a $33 million take. Decent … Continue reading →

Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom started his career with an idyllic childhood tale about growing up in Sweden during the age of Sputnik. “My Life as a Dog” put him on the map, and led to “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” and … Continue reading →

Nothing much happens to the working class poet Adam Driver plays in Jim Jarmusch’s meditative “Paterson,” a drama aptly-set in the New Jersey hometown of poets William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsburg. It’s a still-life imagining of a poet’s life … Continue reading →

It doesn’t limit “20th Century Women” to call it a “coming of age” story. Because there is no limit to that which comes of age in it. Sure, there’s a teenage boy, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). And he’s got this … Continue reading →

We don’t mislabel it “schizophrenia” any more. And few call them “multiple personalities” these days. It’s “Dissociative identity disorder” now. But it’s still every actor’s wet dream. And given the chance to play a kidnapper with an array of guises living … Continue reading →

Every now and then, a cop picture comes along that makes bullet points out of the cliches common to the genre. “Sleepless,” a remake of the French thriller “Nuit blanche,” is here to teach us the conventions of “the cop … Continue reading →

Gonzo. Just…gonzo.

Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg has owned January the way Will Smith used to own July 4 weekend at the box office. But “Patriots Day,” another well-reviewed true-story action collaboration between Wahlberg and his go-to director, Peter Berg (“Deepwater Horizon”), is … Continue reading →

It doesn’t spoil “Patriots Day,” the new thriller about the Boston Marathon Bombing and the hunt for the bombers, knowing this. Mark Wahlberg, as a “suspended and then redeemed” cop at the center of the action, is playing a fictional character, … Continue reading →