Monthly Archives: January 2020

The director of the smash “A Star is Born” rounded up some big time producers for his planned Leonard Bernstein film biography. Spielberg and Scorsese are the two biggest names. The famed composer, New York Philharmonic director and popularizer of … Continue reading →

It is a chilly Martin Luther King Day in America’s vacationland, and I am in a suburban multiplex with a couple of anime fans, and maybe a dozen anime apostates, all here for “Weathering with You.” The latter group know … Continue reading →

Foreign language films, or “international” films as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences now calls them, immerse you in a culture, and the good ones — no matter the subject, can tell you a lot about a place … Continue reading →

It all seems cut and dried as far as acting awards go, doesn’t it? Same winners, show after show after show. But Best Picture seems like a three picture race, thanks to that Sscreen Actors Guild (SAG) award for best … Continue reading →

Love that Terry Crews. When it comes to big, burly character actors who can credibly play tough guys, and hilarious goofs on their tough guy image, he has just two peers — Danny Trejo and Dave Bautista. Pretty good company … Continue reading →

One hazard of the “speak your own truth” corner of indie film is the way the filmmaker’s story supplements or even supplants the one being told on the screen. Haitian-American writer-director Numa Perrier (“Queen Sugar”) dipped back into her own … Continue reading →

Last night the Producers Guild best picture award went To “1917.” The signs, starting from the Golden Globe “upset win,” are unmistakable. Best picture favorite, quite probably best director, too. I still think “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” and its … Continue reading →

There’s an implied “Gather round, children” to any appreciation these days for the music of the Woodstock Generation. When credible documentaries about the history of house music and electronica exist, when NWA earns a perfectly respectable and quite popular bio-pic, … Continue reading →

Last year was top heavy with blockbusters, and a lot of money was made as ticket prices climbed well about $9 nationally. So many 3D and IMAX films, so many franchises. But theater attendance fell 4.6 percent from 2018 to … Continue reading →

All these years later, and Tyler Perry is still making “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” “A Fall from Grace” is his first film made for Netflix, and it’s another female wish-fulfillment fantasy, this one with wrapped in a vengeance … Continue reading →