Monthly Archives: February 2020

  Joan Didion’s cluttered, convoluted pot-boiler of a thriller “The Last Thing He Wanted” becomes a cluttered, convoluted mess of a movie for Netflix. Who knew? Certainly not director and co-screenwriter Dee Rees, who brought the hilariously over-rated “Mudbound” to … Continue reading →

Hey Jude, what’s with the doll? You’re a big boy, turn out that night-light. Remember, the voices are just in your head. Just stick to your bed. And never forget the doll’s rules. Or you know, he’ll kill you… It’s … Continue reading →

“Rag Doll” is a boxing-my-way-out-of-a-jam drama that flirts with being interesting, in between passages of middling melodrama and wilder, illogical “Nobody’ll see THAT coming” surprises. It’s a fight picture of slo-motion bouts (for the most part, hides the skill levels … Continue reading →

The messaging in “Rich Kid$” might be heavy-handed, preachy even. The plot twists can be melodramatic and predictable. It’s still a fine indie calling card for all involved — in front of and behind the camera. It’s “The Breakfast Club” … Continue reading →

This murder mystery — Or was it an accident? — set around an IPO that could make a lot of people rich has a sparkling cast and is based on a best seller. “Human Capital” will have limited release on … Continue reading →

There’s a warm emotional payoff at the very end — the VERY end — of Pixar’s latest, “Onward.” It’s about fathers and sons, father figures and brotherly love. And it’s about 90 minutes too late to save the movie. We’ve … Continue reading →

The newly-reissued “Come and See” is a crash course in Soviet cinema history. Here it is, from Eisenstein until the Iron Curtain parted (briefly), a 1985 summary of Soviet acting, directing, technique and the obsessions of the culture, all in … Continue reading →

The KKK opens a museum whitewashing its history in a South Carolina town, and a pastor tries to blunt its message by reaching out to a grand dragon. Garret Hedlund and the omnipresent Andrea Riseborough also star.

Imagine a nightclub that’s a mad melange of old school burlesque, classic balladeers and jumped-up Portuguese Latin rock, of strippers and stand-up comedy with an occasional dominatrix. It’s old fashioned showbiz set in a mobbed-up milieu with “Goodfellas” decor, way … Continue reading →

    The austere beauty of “Vitalina Varela” is in faces of its characters, the darkness that envelops a corner of Lisbon tourists rarely see. It’s a somber, lyrical and relentlessly understated meditation on grief and a grudge, the story … Continue reading →