Monthly Archives: September 2017

Consider this. Horror movies typically have a box office ceiling, which the “Conjuring/Insidious” and more recently “Annabelle” folks have pushed against. Consider too, that Stephen King’s brand is 40 years old and his track record with film adaptations has been … Continue reading →

Hollywood is famous for its short collective memory. But they have reason to want to forget last summer. In box office terms, it was chilling, a near disaster, a “What’s the future of this business?” level fall-off.  Historically bad, a … Continue reading →

Take your typical Nancy Meyers wish-fulfillment romantic comedy — “Something’s Gotta Give” or “It’s Complicated,” say. Rub anything resembling an edge off, and rob it of any charismatic turns by stars such as Diane Keaton, Robert DeNiro (“The Intern”) or … Continue reading →

To people in the know, financial “bubbles” must have long looked like hurricanes as we see them in the digital/satellite age. They’re slow-moving disasters waiting to happen giving plenty of warning that the End is Nigh, if you’re willing to … Continue reading →

Disney has become the movie studio equivalent of a baseball manager with “a quick hook,” ready to pull the trigger on changing pitchers the minute things start to go south. They chased the animation vets in charge of the Han … Continue reading →

There’s a covered wooden bridge, a stony brook and a quarry where the kids can go swimming. Historic buildings line the tree-shaded streets, where the traffic’s so light a child can ride his or her bike right down the road … Continue reading →

It took filmdom long enough to figure out that re-pairing Glen Close and John Malkovich, made-for-each-other in “Dangerous Liaisons,” was a good idea. But it took just as long to realize that getting Patrick Stewart to grow out his hair … Continue reading →

If the future is indeed female, then the most frightened corners of the Earth must be in the rigidly patriarchal, often Islamic states of the developing world. And India, with its vast Muslim minority, certainly qualifies. Why else would the … Continue reading →

It was never going to be a banner weekend at the box office. Topping off a slack summer with a weekend that had no sleeper possibilities, no major wide releases and no potential Oscar contenders (sometimes one sneaks out on … Continue reading →

Let the TV reviewers soil themselves about “the New Golden Age of TV,” but I’m far from sold. Long form TV has been on a roll, they say, since “The Sopranos.” I say, “Yeah? Another ‘Goodfellas’ — doled out in … Continue reading →