Monthly Archives: May 2018

Et tu, Netflix? Here I am, trying to track down “The Quiller Memorandum,” and you don’t have the rights/bandwidth capacity to be the World’s Greatest Repository of 100 years of Feature Films. But you’re spending money on another GD zombie … Continue reading →

First impressions matter, and Natalie Dormer’s was a corker. The British bombshell first gained notice as Anne Boleyn in TV’s “The Tudors,”  insatiable, scheming, the encyclopedic picture of “man eater.” It’s an image that’s followed her, for good or ill, … Continue reading →

The French street artist JR (Jean-Rene…something) takes evocative photographs, blows them and plasters them on walls, alleys, rooftops — public spaces. Think of a more sentimental Banksy, somebody whose work is more about delight than provocation. Agnés Varda is one … Continue reading →

Oh, the Dog Days of late August. Studios dump movies that couldn’t hack it in summer, couldn’t break free of the pack in fall. But this twisted Muppets go Blue in a Melissa McCarthy murder mystery is “No ‘Sesame, All … Continue reading →

Roger and Kim had a dram or two when we were in Windsor last fall.

Since its release in 1975, the Maysles Brother’s documentary about genteel decay and madness, “Grey Gardens,” has been celebrated as one of the great films of the genre. It’s inspired an award-winning HBO dramatic film and a Broadway musical. It’s … Continue reading →

You’ll see it. Brownie points to the first commenter who IDs where he turns up in his best movie in years. 

Well? Did you? It’s there, in the movie, a glimpse of a U.S. Supreme Court justice, star of “RBG” and played for comic effect. As you’d expect. OK, “cameo” is too specific a characterization. “Sight gag” is more exact. Go … Continue reading →

“Disobedience” is a finely-acted tenterhooks drama about religion, sexuality, tradition and isolation. It is a movie grounded in a rigid hierarchy and ritual, but with a cruel undercurrent of despair. But it takes flight on a trio of brittle, biting … Continue reading →

Here I was, all primed to drip contempt all over the first disaster of the summer cinema season, when I made the mistake of staying through the credits of “Show Dogs.” The mostly-fake outtakes from this talking critters kiddie comedy … Continue reading →