Monthly Archives: August 2018

There’s usually a sight-gag or three that pays off in these “Johnny English” films, movies based on a James Bond riff Rowan Atkinson cooked up for a scandal-plagued UK bank back in their pre-scandal days. Frankly, even for “Blackadder” and … Continue reading →

Oh, to be a snickering 13 year-old boy again, sneaking into the multiplex with other snickering 13 year-old boys to catch “The Happytime Murders” when our parents aren’t paying attention to what we see. We could hunch down in the … Continue reading →

You don’t expect a movie about The Holocaust to be flippant, glib almost. But Chris Weitz’s “Operation Finale,” based on a Matthew Orton script about the Israeli abduction of Nazi “Architect of the Final Solution” Adolph Eichmann from Argentina back … Continue reading →

When a movie has long-established its rhythm and basically admitted it has none and then bursts to life — even briefly — it’s worth noting that at the top a review. “The After Party” manages a random laugh, here and … Continue reading →

A real-life British war correspondent’s biography provided the basis for “A Private War.” As Marie Colvin, the “Gone Girl” star wears an eye patch and “rides to the sound of the guns,” even after the incident that causes her to … Continue reading →

There have been other films about the 1960 Israeli kidnapping of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann. But none have featured Sir Ben Kingsley as the WWII “Final Solution” mastermind, pursued, grabbed and smuggled out of Argentina by Oscar Isaac. Labor … Continue reading →

The Great Man of Letters is waiting for the call. The wife is waiting with him. When he gets it, she is on the line to share his glory. When he speaks — to friends, the press — he showers … Continue reading →

Doc Simon’s gone. Of course stage comedy’s most prolific modern playwright made it into his 90s (91). George Burns (“The Sunshine Boys”) would have demanded no less. There was a stretch when you couldn’t review theater (60s-early 90s) in any … Continue reading →

A little bit of research — sampling a summer’s worth of mostly made-for-Netflix teen comedies — reveals that “raunchy” has new goal posts, “frank sexuality” is something the ratings board is no longer holding the line on in movies for … Continue reading →

One thing the many versions of the big screen apocalypse leave out? How the arrival of that other survivor, the “I’m not alone after all” moment kind of spoils blessed solitude. Elle Fanning and Peter Dinklage figure that out in … Continue reading →