Monthly Archives: July 2017

A best-seller some years back told us “How the Irish Saved Civilization.” Bit of a stretch, but there’s plenty of evidence that a lot of Western culture and more to the point Christian culture was preserved in the monasteries of … Continue reading →

The hard-living, grizzled playwright, actor and director Sam Shepard has died. Complications of Lou Gehrig’s disease, according to the New York Times. He was 73. His plays — “True West,” “Fool for Love” and “Buried Child” among them — won … Continue reading →

He’s best known for his acrid breakthrough film, “In the Company of Men.” But Neil LaBute’s made a career out of telling difficult truths about the human condition and human cruelty. “The Shape of Things,” “”Dirty Weekend,” “The Wicker Man” … Continue reading →

Decades into an ongoing fascination with Japanese cinema, I can still say the most revealing portraits I’ve seen of the home front there during World War II are animated — anime, cartoons. It’s not as if the country’s cinema has … Continue reading →

Almost a millennium has passed since Medieval manuscripts codified a “lusty wench,” and Aubrey Plaza has become that archetype personified. Sleepy-eyed, foul-mouthed and carnality incarnate, whatever TV (“Legion,” “Parks & Rec”) has found for her to do, the movies (“Mike & … Continue reading →

  An animation braintrust put in the overtime, brainstorming brilliant bon mots, thinking outside the box and in dreaming up visuals to illustrate The Secret World of Cell Phones for “The Emoji Movie.” Nah, not really. They just took “Wreck-It … Continue reading →

Fresh insights are rare and dramatic moments rarer in Barbet Schroeder’s meditation on Germans forgiving themselves for the Holocaust, “Amnesia.” It’s an apologia with any hint of edge rubbed off, a soft and squishy drama that has so little to … Continue reading →

Is there a point to “Liza, Liza, Skies are Grey,” a coming-of-age tale that trots out every 1960s trope and cliche and treats each as if it’s a new discovery? The picture takes its title from a song Al Jolson … Continue reading →

d Hardcore fans might glean insights into the psyche of England’s iconic-ironic post-punk poet-singer fashion-political statement Morrissey from “England is Mine,” Mark Gill’s unauthorized bio-pic about Steven Patrick Morrissey’s formative years. The film has the glum, mopey vibe of depression … Continue reading →

With its adoring close-ups, lingering shots in the bath, repeated stripping and endless designer costume changes, “Atomic Blonde” plays like a vanity project for its producer-star, willowy model turned Oscar-winner Charlize Theron. There is no cell phone application for generating … Continue reading →