Monthly Archives: September 2020

“Blow up your TV,” John Prine sang, in one of his most famously whimsical songs, an early plea for abandoning media and focusing on what’s personal and important. “Throw away your paper.” Half a century later, “media” is more insidious … Continue reading →

It’s a thin line filmmakers must walk when depicting mental illness in a movie. The line is thinner when the genre you’re working in is a romance, one that flirts with being a romantic comedy. The risk is, that you’ll … Continue reading →

Sometimes you wonder how a movie with a couple of “names” in it got past you. And everybody else. “A Girl Like Grace” is a 2015 teen drama starring Ryan Destiny, who went on to do Fox’s “Star” TV series, … Continue reading →

Malin Akerman and Kat Dennings and Wanda Sykes and Jane Seymour and Aisha Tyler. There’re some guys in it, too. But I hit the highlights. “Friendsgiving” is out before Halloween. Not that they’re rushing things.

A good romantic comedy is like a happy love affair. Even when our couple faces obstacles, they should feel “easy” to overcome, even if they aren’t. Even if every relationship requires work, we shouldn’t see the effort. “Gossip Girl” veteran … Continue reading →

A tram on Jersulem’s Red Line makes its way from east to west, through an important city of many religions and cultures, revealing itself through the passengers who get on at various stops at many different times of day. But … Continue reading →

Zombie movies are challenging Kia and K-Pop as Korea’s major export, these days. “Train to Busan” and “Peninsula” were big budget theatrical entries, and “#Alive” arrives as the Netflix version, lower stakes, smaller scale, more intimate by design. It doesn’t … Continue reading →

There have been a lot of documentaries about Donald Trump and Donald Trump’s America, and more will show up between now and election day 2020. But the only one on that subject that strikes me as “essential viewing” is “Red, … Continue reading →