Monthly Archives: November 2018

Co-writer/director Steve McQueen doesn’t reinvent the heist picture with “Widows,” his follow-up to “Twelve Years a Slave.” But he does change the focus, the point-of-view, raising the stakes while piling on characters, subtexts and twists. It’s as complicated as “The … Continue reading →

In 1999, on the war-torn, divided island of Timor north of Australia, some 1500 women and children were trapped and in danger of almost certain slaughter by invading Indonesian forces and their supporters. American Marie Colvin was the only Western … Continue reading →

I’ve been looking forward to this one for much of the year — Viola Davis in an action pic, and Ms. “Girlfight” Michelle Rodriguez, in a role worthy of her talents and not billed behind the cars. Steve McQueen’s “Widows” … Continue reading →

Little late posting this Florida-centric trailer. John Travolta seems a little long in the tooth to be tackling the role of Ben Aronoff, offshore cigarette boat racing champ, boat builder and supplier of the craft that got the coke into … Continue reading →

Illumination is doing character-specific trailers for this sequel, and the one for Max, for instance, features a trip to the vet. Coupla chuckles. Next summer, we’ll see if there are more.  

Look at this wish-fulfillment holiday comedy trailer and tell me this doesn’t look like something Hudgens would have made six years ago.

Maybe every generation puts its unique stamp on “the romantic comedy,” but odds are that each new posse just figures out what Jane Austen knew 200 years ago. Thus, “The New Romantic,” a thin collegiate romance hung on the “sugar … Continue reading →

I wish to Blitzen Universal would leave “The Grinch” alone. The 1966 TV special was compact perfection, a minor masterpiece to remember legendary animation director Chuck Jones by. You’re never going to improve on having Boris Karloff as your kindly-spooky-sweet … Continue reading →

The safest way to review the new “Suspiria” is to remember the old “Suspiria” (1977) and bow out with an “It’s not really my thing.” Cryptic, creepy, sexually asexual, gory and grotesque, it’s Reason One to back away — carefully, … Continue reading →

  So many road trip comedies and only one lifetime to get through them all. It’s a conundrum, a dilemma for anybody who cherishes the genre as much as I do. On a sliding scale, “The Long Dumb Road” is … Continue reading →