Monthly Archives: February 2020

“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 →

Not previewed for critics, Katie Homes is the big name in the cast. But it could be great, right?

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 →

Pixar’s trailers rarely give away enough of the movie to let you write the picture off pre release. The “Onward” trailers have left me cold. But you just don’t know, even if Disney Animation has stolen their thunder, even if … Continue reading →