Monthly Archives: December 2020

As I download the Warner Brothers app, required to preview “Wonder Woman ’84,” and watch the back and forth over the studio’s decision to move its entire lineup to HBO Max for the foreseeable future, and browse the menu of … Continue reading →

I’m not a folklorist, so I’m not sure how common “The Blind Swordsman” story is across Asia. But the most famous films about such a character are about Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman. Those go back decades, and even inspired a … Continue reading →

A reboot of the 2003 movie? Go figure.

“Funny Boy” tells a compelling “growing up gay” story in a country few of us know about, set against the turmoil of Sri Lanka’s bitter, decades-long civil war. In adapting a novel by Shyam Selvadurai, director Deepa Mehta (“Water”) has … Continue reading →

Simon West (“Tomb Raider”) was behind the camera for this “Ring of Fire” story, a Jan. 12 release.

A young man visits a sick friend at home in his big, nearly empty family estate where the friend’s supposedly sick but reclusive sister also dwells. They are the last in their line, isolated, with no prospects for or interest … Continue reading →

A more enlightened cinema started producing a lot more sexual-flowering/coming-of-age rom-coms from a female point of view a few years ago. And to prove “how far we’ve come” from “The To-Do List,” we now have “Banging Lanie.” The title’s far … Continue reading →

The organizing principle of “Vinyl Generation,” a 2016 documentary about music and culture in Czechoslovakia during its Iron Curtain years, and just after it, is that the rebellious act of buying and listening to Western rock music on vinyl LPs … Continue reading →

Vampire flick aficionados should definitely drop in on “Climate of the Hunter,” a stylish, chatty and camp blood-sucking homage to “Dark Shadows” and the pretentious British films in the genre from the 1960s. Prolific Oklahoma indie filmmaker Mickey Reece even … Continue reading →