Monthly Archives: September 2020

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 →

“Immortal” is an interesting Screenwriting 201 assignment that somehow made it onto the screen. How would your thriller/horror/end-of-life drama screenplay turn out differently if a character or characters could not be killed? “The Villain Who Won’t Die” is an old … Continue reading →

“Villain” is a straight-up gangster picture in the modern British mold, Cockney hoodlums slinging slang, talking tough and when the need arises, breaking out the hammer and breaking heads. Genre veteran Craig Fairbrass (“Get Lucky,” “The Hooligan Factory”) rumbles through … Continue reading →

Three Oscar winners, one coming attraction. With Dax Shepherd, Eddie Griffin and Emile Hirsch. I’ll laugh at anything that ridicules movie biz “types,” and a 70s period piece? Look for this come November.

The bar isn’t unreasonably high for modern musical biographies. Make that “a hit is created/a star is born” moment work and let music and nostalgia carry the picture. “I Am Woman” has more than that. A star-making turn by Tilda … Continue reading →

What we have here in the disastrously dull pilot to a TV series only comic book diehards would watch. A cast starved of charisma, an “origin story” screenplay barely worthy of the name and middling action beats — and damned … Continue reading →

“The Lost Okoroshi” is a shambolic satiric fantasy from Nigeria that never quite finds the laughs it’s looking for or hits the targets of its satire. It starts with promise and parks its heroic anti-hero in many a time-proven set-up. … Continue reading →

We’ve seen so many variations on that “stalked on the highway” plot that it’s rare that one punches through and makes itself stand out. The pulse-pounding third act of “Alone” puts it right up there with “Breakdown,” if not quite … Continue reading →

Her name is Lucy. Or Louise. Lucinda. Maybe Amy? She’s a med student, or studying physics or gerontology, a poet or a painter, a film critic or a waitress. And she lives in her head, narrating everything about this uncomfortable … Continue reading →

What an odd duck of a kids’ comedy “H is for Happiness” is. This Aussie confection tests one’s patience and foils attempts at interpretation. It takes forever to get going, and tends to balance every potentially giddy moment with a … Continue reading →