Monthly Archives: September 2019

Maika Monroe’s in it? I am so… there.

A diverse workforce at an “edible cutlery” start-up are trapped in a cave during a “team building” spelunking expedition in the dark farce, “Corporate Animals.” As it’s a comedy scripted by the Brit who wrote “4 Lions,”  there is a moment … Continue reading →

There was a moment, back in the dark ages, when “60 Minutes” cut to the chase at the climax of decades and decades of science, reports, government ad bans and warnings about cigarettes. Smoking, the evidence showed in a famous … Continue reading →

Animated or live action, the twee films of Wes Anderson have been onnan Howard trajectory with audiences after years of being “citical darlings.” A serio comic love letter to journalism” is his next project, and “The French Dispatch” has distribution … Continue reading →

When the mind wanders during a comedy, or any film that isn’t quite working, the only constructive place to let it wander is to one question. “Why did these attractive, talented people (the cast) decide to do it?”‘ Sometimes the … Continue reading →

A mother loses custody of her two a daughters, with cause. She is mentally ill. How she copes is the subject of “An Audience of Chairs,” a Canadian drama that is the quintessence of “fall cinema.” It’s serious.

Ruffalo is a West “By God” Virginia lawyer working for Big Corps out of state, when he takes on the case of a farmer (Bill Camp) losing cattle to chemical poisoning of the water supply. Tim Robbins as a villain, … Continue reading →

You’ve got a Chinese mob soldier named “One-Armed Wang” with a grudge. You can guess what about. There’s a drug-addicted heroine who hallucinates middle aged men dancing in their tidy whiteys. The toughest Chinese assassin is, well, transgender. The hero … Continue reading →

“Zeroville” is a surreal fantasia on Hollywood filmed in 2014, in limbo when its distributor went bankrupt in 2016. Based on a Steve Erikson novel, it has morphed, on the shelf, into a veritable James Franco time capsule, a movie … Continue reading →

“Fiddler on the Roof” is not everybody’s favorite musical. You see enough community theater or scholastic productions of it performed by folks who figure Jewish caricatures are the way to go with their performances, or that they can (in one … Continue reading →