Monthly Archives: January 2021

Oscar winner, eight time Emmy queen, oh and Miss Chicago, 1946 — Cloris Leachman has passed from life into legend. She was 94, and worked and worked and worked (she was in “The Croods” cartoons) until the very end. What … Continue reading →

There’s something ever so disconcerting about the sight of Laura Carmichael, prim blonde Lady Edith of “Downton Abbey,” swearing, knocking back a few and having a quick shag in a night club’s restroom in “Burn Burn Burn.” But, you know, … Continue reading →

⚡️ “First look at Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in ‘Spencer’” by @ETCanada https://twitter.com/i/events/1354449566855286784

Suppose you’re a ghost, happily haunting this house, chasing away every potential tenant with a steadily escalating series of “unexplainable” events — empty rocking chair that starts rocking, a metronome that clicks on by itself, doorbell ringing on its own, … Continue reading →

In “Palmer,” Justin Timberlake plays an ex-con, a hard man who comes back to his hometown and the grandma who raised him, looking for a second chance. But that second chance doesn’t really present itself until his granny (June Squibb) … Continue reading →

Jason Clarke, Alexandra Shipp and Nick Robinson star in this Lionsgate thriller about “the rise and fall of Silk Road, the infamous darknet site that sent a seismic shock through the World Wide Web.” Internet cops and robbers

It’s the famous walk, a steady, cat-like lope that hasn’t changed with the decades, the way he turns on a half-menacing/wholly insincere smile when he needs it. It’s the way he lowers his head and raises his eyes in glowering … Continue reading →

As far as “fears” go, I typically prefer mysterious and unknown peril to frights shoved in my face, explained, back-storied and underlined. But that’s not how the “Wrong Turn” movies work. For twenty years these films have gotten good looking … Continue reading →

Not sure how Netflix productions qualify as “Independent,” but somehow, they’ve garnered 16 nominations (Universal offshoot Focus had 10), and “real” indie A24 got a bunch. A wide range of films, streaming series and TV shows gained nominations, with films … Continue reading →

What is it about black and white celluloid that makes its modern digital equivalent feel so flat and washed out? Is it the texture, the nearly-invisible but implicit “grain” and sharpness? The contrast between light and shadow, the many shadings … Continue reading →