Monthly Archives: June 2018

Of all the blood-and-whisky-soaked dystopian thrillers peddled to all the Chinese financiers by all of Hollywood, why on Earth would Oscar winner Jodie Foster return to the big screen with “Hotel Artemis?”  She plays “Nurse,” who runs an underworld hotel-hospital … Continue reading →

Hugo Weaving is the heavy? Sure? You can’t do sci-fi, or rather you shouldn’t, without Hugo W. Very steampunk “Howl’s Moving Castle” YA adaptation with a mostly no-name cast, “Peter Jackson Presents” but does not direct. His Tolkien adapting screenwriters … Continue reading →

No, it’s not the “Serenity” the fanboys and girls want to see. But you’ve got two Oscar winners and two Oscar nominees in this cast, a sultry tropical setting for violence, sex and shark infested waters. So chances are, when … Continue reading →

“Seabiscuit” director Gary Ross takes on a clothes-horse caper comedy and finds the glass slipper doesn’t fit in “Ocean’s 8,” a distaff spin on the “Ocean’s 11” movies. A make-work project for generations of Hollywood women and female fashion celebrities, … Continue reading →

Bradley Cooper directs and co-stars, and Lady Gaga — Remember her? — is the New Judy Garland/Janet Gaynor/Babs Streisand in this latest “A Star is Born.” This trailer has Bradley Cooper ego trip (and you thought GAGA was a diva) … Continue reading →

Great filmmakers remember that cinema is a visual medium, that you never say something with dialogue when you can show it with an image. That’s how Clio Barnard tells the story of “Dark River,” a quiet, tense and beautiful tale … Continue reading →

Deborah Haywood’s “Pin Cushion” is an easy film to laud, a hard one to warm up to. It’s about the psychic toll of bullying, as both a fresh experience, new to the young, and what a lifetime of it can … Continue reading →

There are no reviews of either of these films on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes or MRQE.com. Which suggests to me that they’re getting “premieres” Tuesday night in wherever, and the mass press showings for both are Wed. Don’t hole me … Continue reading →

Robert Redford’s a legendary AARP-qualified robber of banks, Sissy Spacek the lady of an appropriate age he takes a shine to and Casey Affleck the lawman chasing him in this wistful, whimsical tale of Forrest Tucker — not the Western … Continue reading →

This trailer to the Alex Lawther Brit comedy “Old Boys” had me at, “SMILE, Amberson. These are the best days of your life!” The hazing, the military training, the period (Cassette tapes, the ’80s?), the hapless/awkward way he carries himself, … Continue reading →