Monthly Archives: January 2020

Yes, THAT Jon Stewart. Rose Byrne and Steve Carell star in this May 29 political farce.

While there’s a lot to be said for “sexual heat” in a screen romance, there’s nothing all that romantic about the slam-against-the-wall, bruising hurry that too many screenwriters (male, mostly) figure is “love language” in the movies. The ache of … Continue reading →

Not every Valentine’s Day release is, well, romantic. There’s room for “bromance,” and dentist-patient bonding, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Athlete/non-athletic guy twice her age? We’ll see.

It may be set in the post-Kurt Cobain suicide 1990s, but you don’t have to be an American Literature major to spy “The Turn of the Screw,” the novel by Henry James, in the Gothic horror film “The Turning.” The … Continue reading →

The role-playing action/fantasy video game “NiNoKuni” earns an amusingly nonsensical screen “origin story,” thanks to Netflix. It’s faithful enough to the game — one supposes — to merit the interest of fans, and as it was directed by a “Spirited … Continue reading →

A gritty, needy fever dream of New York “fame” comes our way Feb. 21.

“Airplane Mode” is a shiny little rom-com bauble from Brazil that strains and strains to find a laugh. It’s about cell phone addicts, “influencers,” fashion, family and finding love where the pace of life is a lot slower than in … Continue reading →

The Best International Feature Film Oscar, formerly titled “Best Foreign Language Film,” is going to Korea’s “Parasite” this year. Bong Joon Ho’s social satire is the closest this thing year’s Academy Awards have to a sure thing. But Poland’s entry … Continue reading →

Lisbon’s slums are the backdrop for a Pedro Costa’s acclaimed story of a woman from the Cape Verde Islands searching for traces of her late husband in this Feb. 20 release.

“The Gentlemen” is vintage Guy Ritchie, an old-fashioned/new-fangled mob tale of the “Snatch,” “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” Cockney comedy with lots of killing thrown in. None of this “Aladdin” nonsense. It’s “RocknRolla” — the entertaining but weak third … Continue reading →