Monthly Archives: July 2018

  All of my leisure reading is taken up with non-fiction, with the odd fiction classic thrown in just to clear the palette (Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Patrick O’Brian). And as I read this history of Dunkirk or that Life of … Continue reading →

The most dramatic and damning story about the heedless run-up to the invasion of Iraq has to be the ways a humiliated and enraged America blundered into Iraq, led by a Bush administration hell-bent on getting a war and an … Continue reading →

Based on the Penelope Fitzgerald novel, directed by the woman who gave us “The Secret Life of Words,” “Elegy” and “Learning to Drive,” “The Bookshop” celebrates reading in the face of ignorance, public good over greed and love. It finally … Continue reading →

  Josh Brolin joins Danny McBride and his “The Foot-Fist-Way” director Jody Hill for another comic riff on emasculated Southern white manhood with “The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter.” It’s a satiric goof on fathers and sons and the … Continue reading →

The sophomore jinx settles in over “Frank & Lola” director Matthew Ross’s second feature, a violent thriller with a strong undercurrent of sex, Russian intrigues and Keanu Reeves. “Siberia” is tedium itself, a boring, talkative and nonsensical story that parks … Continue reading →

Avoiding Adam Sandler films is a lot easier than it used to be. Basically, he’s moved (with his aging fanbase) to Netflix, and the most prominent theatrical releases he’s in have him doing a goof Dracula voice for Sony Animation. … Continue reading →

The word “opportunist” gets kicked around a lot in “Whitney,” director Kevin Macdonald’s new onstage/backstage, warts and all documentary about Whitney Houston. This family member tosses it at that family member, or girlfriend, music industry professionals slap it on Houston’s … Continue reading →

Food for thought — Sony Animation and Netflix are the Axis of Evil, propping up the corpse of Adam Sandler’s lazy, lowbrow screen comedy career. Nice guy. Met him, once, when he was still humble and putting forth the effort … Continue reading →

Deadline.com, one of the places I go for Box Office projections and updates — has been steadily walking back its “EXCLUSIVES” about what “Ant Man and the Wasp” was going to pull in this weekend. The fourth Marvel release this … Continue reading →

Deadline.com is projecting “Ant Man and The Wasp” managed over $11 million on Thursday, which puts it on track to do $95 million. Great, right? Sure, “Guardians of the Galaxy” numbers, double “Ant Man” which did over $6 on a … Continue reading →