Monthly Archives: January 2021

The camera tracks down what is unmistakably a young woman’s naked back as the voice of Stephen Fry, throwing himself into an amusing dudgeon, reads from the letters of the puzzle print-maker M.C. Escher, griping about “the hippies in San … Continue reading →

“Cicada Song” is a sometimes compelling mystery-thriller set in America’s heartland, a missing persons story set in remote, rural Missouri. The feature debut of writer-director Michael Starr has many of the requisite ingredients of a solid indie outing — a … Continue reading →

As I’ve said before, that Craig Fairbrass is a proper British villain. A hulking, brutish mug, everything about him says Man of Action/Bloke-who-doesn’t-muck-about. He makes solid British B-movies — thrillers with a caper, cash, some cars, some cuts and gunplay, … Continue reading →

Here’s how a New York Times critic made mention of actress and transgender icon Candy Darling‘s first appearance in a reviewable play, “Glamour, Glory and Gold” on a New York stage. “Hers was the first female impersonation of a female … Continue reading →

It’s not every horror movie that opens by killing off future Oscar winners Laura Dern and George Clooney…and Charlie Sheen. And there can’t be many that climax with a godawful but epic imitation ’80s synth pop concert and big explosions … Continue reading →

So a ’67 Boss 302 Mustang, a Porsche 991 GTS Turbo, a Toyota GT86 and an ’80 Pace Car Corvette cut loose on the Nürburgring… Did I lose you? Fine. Go over and read the reviews of “Asphalt Burning” typed … Continue reading →

We don’t need to be told “Gun and a Hotel Bible” is based on a play. The memory monologues, the compact two-person structure, basically a single set, the theological debates — very theatrical. A desperate man (Bradley Gosnell) staring at … Continue reading →

“Redemption Day” is a hostage thriller with a fixed deadline, a threatened beheading and the celebrated soldier married to the hostage hellbent on fighting his way to get to her. “My cause is worthy of my death.“ It has a … Continue reading →

The melancholy romance “Elsewhere” is like that endless home improvement project that starts with so much promise, but that your contractor never quite gets up the gumption to finish. That would be the perfect analogy, except “Elsewhere” doesn’t irritate you … Continue reading →

Imagine a movie mash-up blending “The Bad News Bears” with “Hurt Locker.” That’s “Torbaaz,” and Indo-Afghan sports drama/thriller about an Afghan cricket team formed in a refugee camp. And no, that unholy marriage of genres and subject matters doesn’t come … Continue reading →