Monthly Archives: August 2018

Google Orlando’s Bloom’s name these past few years, and you’d get an eyeful of naked paddle boarding shots, notices of who he’s dating and a countdown clock for “how long it lasts.” Katy Perry, Kate Bosworth, Penelope Cruz, Selena Gomez (!?) … Continue reading →

There’s a lot to be said for a 78 minute romantic comedy. These things aren’t complicated, despite Hollywood’s poor batting average with the genre. Cute couple, cute banter, “how we met” bits, obstacles to their love parked at strategic points, … Continue reading →

It’s Sydney 1959 in this Bruce Beresford film of the Madeleine St. John novel, and the various “department store women” face differing futures, but futures constricted by the “No girl’a MOYN is goin’ t’UNIVERSITY” times, and Australia’s lingering provincial reputation … Continue reading →

  A troubled child finds her life’s purpose, if not necessarily solace, spending the summer on a relative’s farm in “The Swan,” a disquieting coming-of-age drama from Iceland. Icelandic filmmaker Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir uses images, melancholy reveries and the voice-over narration … Continue reading →

James Gunn spends years telling seriously tasteless but some would say “revealing” “jokes” online, on a blog (since deleted) and on Twitter. A conservative activist decides he doesn’t like the anti-Trump politics of the director of the “Guardians of the … Continue reading →

Netflix has rapidly evolved into a safe space for famous actors to dabble in TV — streaming series — and take acting risks without denting either their quote or their marketable screen personas (brands). Think Jason Bateman’s dark “Ozark,” etc. … Continue reading →

The bonds of familial love are strained to the breaking point, tugged in several directions, in the lyrical movie memoir, “We the Animals.” Based on the semi-autobiographical novel, Jeremiah Zagar’s moving indie film takes us into the lives of three … Continue reading →

A teenage girl and her tween sister ride the bus, cross-state, towards the beach. One’s an outgoing city kid, living in a foster home, looking forward a rare trip to the ocean. It’s her older sister’s bithday, and she’ll also … Continue reading →

The big question for me this weekend was and will be the word of mouth on Disney’s quiet, downbeat “kids” movie “Christopher Robin.” Deadline.com and others had been projecting a brand healthy $29 million or so for this grownup riff … Continue reading →

Basically a Royal Caribbean ad masquerading as a romantic comedy, “Like Father” pairs up Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammer as daughter and estranged father paired on what was supposed to be “her” honeymoon cruise to Jamaica. “Eeew,” right? That’s what … Continue reading →