Monthly Archives: November 2020

Ambitious, sprawling, sluggish and bland, “Stand!” is a Canadian musical about Winnipeg’s general strike of 1919. The director of “Stomp the Yard” can’t get this stagey, stodgy and history-set-to-song up on its feet any more than the screenwriters can turn … Continue reading →

A “buddy picture” is a lot like a romantic comedy. The “couple” must clash, bicker or even box each other’s ears, and do it adorably. Their arguments should snap, the more stinging the wit the better. And the leads? They … Continue reading →

The opening voice-over narration of “Elyse” has a clumsy “English as a Second Language” wince about it. “People would rather live in homes, regardless of its grayness.” “‘If we walk far enough,’ says Dorothy, “we shall sometime come to someplace.” … Continue reading →

Every film in Steve McQueen’s five-film series “Small Axe” has interesting characters, and a couple of them are strictly character-driven. But it’s the milieu and the passing parade of history — real events, pivotal moments in British social justice — … Continue reading →

“Mangrove,” the first film in Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” quintet of movies revisiting the London of McQueen’s youth, is both the establishing film of the series and the most challenging to approach. The movies, about the first generations of the … Continue reading →

Korean filmmaker Chung-hyun Lee makes a splashy K-horror debut with “Call,” which Netflix has unhelpfully retitled “The Call” for North American purposes. Lee takes a simple supernatural premise and runs it to death and then some in this sinister tale … Continue reading →

He looks to be 50ish, balding, tattooed and showing his miles. Troubled. And when his doctor asks what would help, his request is direct and simple. “Up my dosage,” he says, in Italian, with English subtitles. Captain Riva has his … Continue reading →

“Midnight at the Magnolia” is a holiday romance as tasty as bargain-shelf whitebread and edgy as a butterknife. It’s Example One in that age-honored adage that America is filled to the brim with competent actresses and actors, but “star power” … Continue reading →

The choreography by Ashley Wallen sparkles and dazzles. Madelen Mills, Anika Noni Rose, Ricky Martin and Lisa Davina Phillip sing, but so do Forest Whitaker and Keegan-Michael Key — who sings the villain’s show-stopper, “Magic Man G.” The settings are … Continue reading →

The largest museum of contemporary art in the world, acres and acres in size, was opened in a dying industrial town in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. MASS MoCa was the most “out there” and yet doable pitch thrown at … Continue reading →