Daily Archives: January 30, 2021

Not saying I’ve been doing this a long time, but…

I see this stacked in my “warm clothes” collection at my mother’s place in frigid N.C., a studio-provided turtleneck from the days when critics were critical, films were shot on celluloid and Michael Palin might be just the priest to … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: A Shelley dreams up her “Frankenstein” — “A Nightmare Wakes”

Shudder has this one, which starts streaming Feb. 4. Creepy?

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Movie Review: “Happy Cleaners” and the burden of Korean-American expectations

Good storytelling skates by on the tension between what we see, read or hear unfold, and what we hope or fear might happen as the tale unfolds. Dickens or “Dumb & Dumber,” it’s all about meeting or willfully defying our … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Danielle McDonald, Hugh Skinner and Joanna Lumley ask “What’s Opera, Doc?” in “Falling for Figaro”

A little song, a little prance, a little Patsy from “AbFab” in her cups and in your hands.

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Movie Preview: An agent’s assistant remembers “My Salinger Year”

Joanna Smith Rakoff’s memoir about working in a New York literary agency that represented J.D. Salinger becomes a break-out vehicle for Margaret Qualley and a reminder that nobody knows that New York/Old Money world better than Sigourney Weaver, who rarely … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Couple tries to have it all, a threesome that begins at “First Blush”

“First Blush” is a Millennial Dance with the Tiger romance, another generation’s flirtation with the “Threesome that Works.” Victor Neumark’s film posits that maybe this time, with this generation, we can stop the dance without the tiger eating us. Hey, … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Is Montgomery Clift’s “The Big Lift” the first Cold War Comedy?

The Cold War comedy had become its own genre by the time Mel Brooks and Buck Henry put in on TV with “Get Smart.” The idea that Russian spies, Russian authoritarianism and “The American Way” could collide for laughs should … Continue reading

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