Monthly Archives: December 2019

It’s a mess. And Brendan Fraser stars in it. Eventually. It takes a good, long while for Fraser, of late on the Hollywood “comeback trail” thanks to TV work in “The Affair” and “Trust,” to show up in the feature … Continue reading →

A big 2020 release of a 2008 musical.

A World War II story about morality, not blindly plunging down the hole of doing whatever Dear Leader and his bigoted murderous minions say. A very LONG WWII story, I should add.

Character studies are the chamber music of the cinema — intimate, uncluttered movies built upon carefully-observed and recreated details. They are movies unplugged, capturing small-scale tragedies or personal triumphs via layers of quiet reflection. Not a lot happens in “Colewell,” … Continue reading →

“The Whistleblower” is a Sino-Aussie thriller with plenty of properly potent action beats, a generally engaging cast, a global chase involving wildly improbable escapes and a script rife with knee-slappingly silly plot details. A tale of a global mineral megacompany … Continue reading →

Clint Eastwood cast his aged eyes upon America, the flood of indictments and prison sentences raining on a Russian puppet in the White House, the daily affronts to truth, decency, morality, legality and patriotism reported by the press, and decided … Continue reading →

You shouldn’t make a Cinderella movie without having some killer “Steps” in mind. “A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish,” has some doozies. You don’t have to be a tweenage girl to get your back up at how LOATHESOME the evil stepmother … Continue reading →

No DeNiro for “The Irishman,” a lot less Netflix than the critics’ groups and Golden Globes crowd have been crowing over. From Variety… SAG Nominations: 22 Biggest Snubs and Surprises From ‘Little Women’ to ‘The Morning Show’ https://t.co/RK1nA9rwPo https://t.co/yORJ4oFvtn https://twitter.com/Variety_Film/status/1204805932951035905?s=20

Oh, look at all the guys who try to take advantage of the tipsy lady at the bar. Look at what she does to them. Or seems about to. “Promising Young Woman” opens in April.

The “great singer who can’t get a break in this business” trope earns a desultory, if occasionally tuneful treatment in “Hold On,” a faith-based drama “inspired by true events.” It plays as preordained, and the emotionally-flat performances, even in roles … Continue reading →