Monthly Archives: September 2017

Ben Stiller gives his most soulful, vulnerable performance ever in his new film, “Brad’s Status.” Writer-director Mike White (“The Good Girl,” “Year of the Dog”) has conjured up a gentle, realistic and melancholy midlife for Stiller to act out, one … Continue reading →

The horror trope that “social media can get you killed” has already led to assorted thrillers with the title “Unfriended,” one of them popular enough to warrant “Unfriended 2.” So that working title for the movie that became “Friend Request” … Continue reading →

It’s always a call for celebration when a major studio puts money and effort behind a picture aimed at an audience over the age of 25. But the second “Murder on the Orient Express” trailer underlines some pretty big questions … Continue reading →

Wes Anderson’s latest is set in a Japan where dogs have been exiled to a garbage island, where a 12 year-old dodges the quarantine in search of his pet. Bryan Cranston is the one voice that stands out in the … Continue reading →

Although there are many ways to tell the story of how a writer’s life informs his or her talent, there’s something to be said for literary biographies that narrow their focus, zeroing on in a signal event that made a … Continue reading →

Kind of sad when I heard this was happening. Lara Croft did Angelina Jolie no favors. But putting another Oscar winner into the role was meant to be. I guess. Kristen Scott Thomas and Dominic West play her parents, the … Continue reading →

INTERIOR: A dark hallway, the camera tracks into a bedroom where a little boy is having a nightmare. The title “Thirteen years ago” appears on the screen. The little boy imagines himself in what looks like a graveyard, macabre figures … Continue reading →

  There’s a lot of Ferris Bueller to Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder. That only becomes clear in “Let’s Play Two,” the new documentary about the band’s triumphant performance at Wrigley Field as the Cubs were rolling to their … Continue reading →

Remember when you were 11, had never seen a James Bond movie and thought somebody, ANYbody, dropping the F-word was the funniest thing ever? That’s what “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is like — recycled Bond gags and settings, sophomoric humor, … Continue reading →

Movies about vets struggling with post traumatic stress or other issues after service in the Middle East are so common that Hollywood has, on a few occasions, declined to release even productions with big stars on that subject. Nowadays, you … Continue reading →