Monthly Archives: May 2020

Movie Review: Once more, into the breech — “The Trip to Greece”

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reunite for one more comic travelogue in “The Trip to Greece,” retracing the steps of the mythical Odysseus in a land steeped in history. As indeed are our co-stars — retracing ancient steps and an … Continue reading

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Bingeworthy? “White Lines,” from the creator of “Money Heist”

Sometimes, I swear, it’s like the creators of these limited-run series are paid per minute of screen time that they convince the streamer to give them to tell their story. A woman learns that her beloved brother — missing for … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: The Who’s “Tommy,” pre-Broadway, in all its garish glory

  The unalloyed delight in dropping into “Tommy” 45 years after it cinemas is hearing and seeing Jack Nicholson sing (respectably on key) and vamp his way through “Go to the Mirror!” Only Ken Russell (“The Music Lovers,” “Altered States,” … Continue reading

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Movie Review: AOL chat awakens a Catholic girl’s hormones “Yes, God, Yes”

Writer-director Karen Maine’s first gained notice with the short film that became the feature “Obvious Child,” a comedy about an abortion. So a movie about a Catholic schoolgirl’s intellectual and sexual awakening during the AOL era is pretty tame stuff, … Continue reading

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RIP Lynn Shelton, Godmother of “Mumblecore,” director of “Little Fires Everywhere”

Actress/actor turned director Lynn Shelton, whose “Humpday,” “Your Sister’s Sister” and “Laggies” helped define to chatty/semi-improvised subgenre called “mumblecore” by some, has died. A blood illness, undisclosed, took her at a far-too-young 54. That’s her with “Mumblecore” Godfather Mark Duplass, … Continue reading

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Documentary Review: Old home movies reveal a horror “in the background” in “Rewind”

We’ve probably lost our ability to be shocked by allegations of sexual abuse that turn out to be true. The American statistics are staggering — one our of four girls are molested before they turn 18, one out of six … Continue reading

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Movie Review: What might be out there in “The Vast of Night?”

“The Vast of Night” is a mystery wrapped in an enigma and boxed up in an homage to “The Twilight Zone.” It’s a beautiful, gloomy and nostalgic film whose “The truth is OUT there” answers may be obvious, and whose … Continue reading

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Documentary Review: Put down your phone! (After reading this review of “Screened Out”)

Everybody’s got a story of when we first recognized the addiction — usually other people’s and not our own. A concert where phone alerts interrupted the music, church, classrooms overrun with teens unable to keep the screen out of sight. … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Horror coming in June, when “Darkness Falls”

Suicides that might be…murders? Shawn Ashmore, Daniella Alonso, Gary Cole and Lin Shaye are the names in the cast. June 12.  

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Documentary Review — Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics” uses laughs for drug advocacy

Hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD and mescaline, the active ingredient in Peyote, aren’t addictive. They don’t kill people. And in studies, only now being renewed after decades of criminalization, they show promise in helping with anxiety, depression and other forms … Continue reading

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