Monthly Archives: January 2019

There’s something comforting in the way the ageing action star Jean-Claude Van Damme is wearing his years. He’s letting the mileage show, and not losing a lot of sleep about the fact that his punches aren’t what they once seemed … Continue reading →

What’s great, worth going to see and buying? What’s hot in the art world, worth investing in? Whatever we tell you is, darling. “Velvet Buzzsaw” is a satiric thriller from Dan Gilroy (“Nightcrawler”) about a new “discovery,” already dead and … Continue reading →

There’s nothing like the smell of a new multiplex. Every one I go into advances the state of the art, it seems, and some even improve the movie-going experience. A new Epic Theater where I live has all this digital … Continue reading →

Kevin Hart’s got a movie that might have, at one time, been looked at as a “game changer” for him, to promote. “The Upside” was filmed a few years ago and is just now coming out at what has felt … Continue reading →

Comics who take the easy, broad gags are said to be reaching for low-hanging fruit. Kevin Hart? He treats reachable, easy laughs like piñatas. He pounds the heck out of them. “The Upside” gives Hart the chance to check his … Continue reading →

The laughs may be low-hanging fruit — “What in the name of Black Jesus” and “We’ve got a BMW situation here; Black Mama Whuppin’” — but this African American “Big” twist has them. Three or four, just in the trailer. … Continue reading →

So Kevin Hart’s having a rather rough go of it. No, he isn’t hosting the Oscars. Yes, he did FINALLY get around to apologizing for one liners and old tweets of the Tracy Morgan “Kill my kid if he told … Continue reading →

At one point in the French documentary “Jihadists,” a snippet of an ISIS recruiting video sends us hurtling down the highways and streets of Iraq, as the “fighters” inside randomly shoot-up cars full of people, pedestrians on the street, all … Continue reading →

Sometimes, it’s fun to dive into a film by dissecting its credits to figure out how it, out of all the screenplays flooding into the indie cinema marketplace, got made. The first thing that jumps out in reading the credits … Continue reading →

At a cabin in the mountains, six old friends get together to talk about the old times and drink a lot of shots as they do. But there’s a nut in a mask. With a knife. And a hammer. And … Continue reading →