Monthly Archives: September 2020

Tip of the hat to Netflix, for indulging the first star the streaming service has actually created with this bon bon of a showcase. Millie Bobby Brown is the age of the character she’s playing, “Enola Holmes,” aka Sherlock Holmes’ … Continue reading →

Long before it was a Broadway hit (in the ’80s), “42nd Street” was a musical adapted (from a novel) for the screen. And this 1933 film may be the oldest Hollywood musical to, as we say, “still hold up.” The … Continue reading →

Netflix’s batting average with animation takes a blow with “Pets United,” a competently-animated “Euro-Sino” production, a “Robots” and “Pets” mashup with no delights and zero laughs to its credit. Roger, a stray dog (voiced by Patrick Roche) spends his days … Continue reading →

Lena Olin earns a fine showcase as the partner, organizer, caregiver and maybe muse of a famous artist in “The Artist’s Wife.” This domestic melodrama from producer (“Call Me by Your Name”) and sometime director (“Last Weekend”) Tom Dolby touches … Continue reading →

If filmmaker Alex Gibney was an oncologist, he’d be the one you could rely on if you asked, “Give it to me straight, doc. Is it the Big Casino?” He makes films that have a dogged devotion to the unvarnished … Continue reading →

He was a good Bond villain in a daft Bond film, “Moonraker.” “Look after Mister Bond. See that some harm comes to him.” But the Paris-born French actor Michael Lonsdale, who died today at 89, was in two thrillers I … Continue reading →

It might not be the best time to release a movie built around attacks of conscience. That’s a concept that’s taken a beating in the United States in recent years. We’re not living in Frank Capra’s America any more. But … Continue reading →

And Cloris Leachman and Peter Dinklage and Kelly Marie Tran and Leslie Mann and Catherine Keeper and Clark Duke… Thanksgiving, the Cave Family experiences the culture clash of dropping into the modern world.

Tom Wolfe’s book about the early days of the space program had swagger, suspense and humor. It was inspiring but fun. Philip Kaufman’s glorious 1983 film was mythic, with the sweep of a Greek epic. It was sexy, sentimental and … Continue reading →

Here’s a German comedy stuffed with cutesy touches but little else, a madcap scamper from start to finish that still feels static and kind of staid, and a gorgeous character who’s meant to be funny, but who makes you wish … Continue reading →