Monthly Archives: August 2020

It’s melodramatic in the extreme, with lots of low lighting and women in emotional turmoil. But Argentinian drama “The Crimes that Bind (Crímenes de familia)” is dryer and quieter than your average movie-length soap opera. Lacking even the emotional queues … Continue reading →

This November release repairs the “Man of Steel” Kent parents, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner, for a story of ranchers who set out to rescue a grandchild living “off the grid” (Survivalists? Cultists? Druggies?) in the Dakotas. Anything starring two … Continue reading →

It happens often enough that it’s worth pointing out this neat bit of role-reversal in “The Unfamiliar.” Our heroine, Izzy Cormack, turns to her husband Ethan and says, “Stay here and call the police.” Or “Wait here, I’ll find” Emma … Continue reading →

The most credible way for a story about Nigeria’s multi-billion-dollar Internet scamming industry to be told is by a Nigerian, from a Nigerian point of view. Only someone from the culture can speak freely to the attractions of this vast, … Continue reading →

“Epicentro” is a lovely new tone poem to Cuba, as it is now, the Cuba behind the propaganda from within and without. Havana is shown in all its worn, grimy impoverished glory and the people in all their vibrant, increasingly … Continue reading →

Oh you have GOT to see this. Seriously. Who doesn’t love to gawk? Somehow Salma Hayek and Alec Baldwin took the title roles as “Drunk Parents,” drinking and flailing and spiraling down the affluence ladder — and trying like Hell … Continue reading →

And Sophie Okenedo and Armor Hammer and Russell Brand. Good clean old-fashioned whodunit fun?

It’s a ploy we’re seeing a lot of these days. “Here’s the pilot, subscribe to our cable/streaming/etc service to the see the rest.” I like it. Youtube is where HBO has parked its opening episode of “Lovecraft Country,” the cerebral … Continue reading →

“Train to Busan,” the best zombie movie in years, hurled us into a human-caused Korean pandemic and taught us to never ever get too attached to any would-be survivor for long. It had gut-punching pathos blended in with the endless … Continue reading →

“The Fantastiks” hung around American life for decades, lingering like The Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. You knew it was there, and it seemed it always has been and always would be — even if you never got around … Continue reading →