Monthly Archives: December 2017

First thing that made me laugh here was Anne Hathaway playing around with her hated image. Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t available? Bullock’s deadpan is as solid as ever, as is her obsession/vanity over her hair. Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter and … Continue reading →

Harry Truman once said that “The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.” And in our inter-connected, up-to-the-moment, instant-gratification seeking culture, what we “do not know” seems to grow by the hour. As necessary … Continue reading →

From the instant he appears, in the flash of a match in an unlit room as he lights his cigar in bed, we forget Gary Oldman is playing a part. He transforms into Winston Churchill, the bulldog face and jowly … Continue reading →

You’d think the guy who finally freed himself of Middle Earth would want to cut loose, maybe do that “Dam Busters” remake he’s talked about. But no. Peter Jackson’s got “Mortal Engines” on his mind. He wrote the script,produced and … Continue reading →

It’s no stretch to think of the rawboned character actor John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”) as an unrepentant alcoholic, and the sort of man who’d bring that up in a job interview. That’s how we meet … Continue reading →

You could cast other actors. ut if the role you’re filling calls for a coiled-spring of psychosis, generating dread as we know this guy is going to awaken one day, having dozed off watching porn on his work computer, and … Continue reading →

It takes little away from “First They Killed My Father,” a remembrance of the Cambodian civil war and the Khmer Rouge genocide that followed, to say it’s too polished. The grim narrative, a child’s-eye-view of war that could just as … Continue reading →

A $97 million Friday followed a $45 million Thursday means that “The Last Jedi” seems headed towards a $208-212 million opening weekend, right smack on the lower end of pre-release projections. Fox, once again releasing a pricey cartoon opposite a … Continue reading →

It’s got financial chicanery, Vanessa Bayer and Jason Schwartzman and polka music — lots of oom-pah-pah. And Jack Black, whose quote may go up if “Jumanji” hits it big next week. Jan 12., you will worship “The Polka King.”  

So here’s where we are with regards to Woody Allen. You’ve got the black screen, the white credits in what looks like Clarendon font. There’s the scratchy record playing classic jazz, The Mills Brothers, in this case. A “Who’s Who” … Continue reading →