Monthly Archives: February 2021

You can’t help but root for any romantic comedy that comes along to work, because so very few of them do. “The Right One” has a few promising elements which make themselves obvious from the get-go. But the good ideas … Continue reading →

Just go to this link and check out the man’s filmography. Hal Holbrook had a very long, deep and interesting career. Like others we’ve spent this winter of 2021 mourning, he was active a very long time, made many memorable … Continue reading →

The great filmmaker Andrey Konchalovskiy knows that sentimentality and nostalgia are poison pills, and has never been shy about making films that defy that maudlin tendency of Mother Russia. The director of “Maria’s Lovers” and “Runaway Train,” the films he’s … Continue reading →

People who’re seriously down the rabbit hole on any given subject are fascinating specimens, and often make for engrossing magazine profiles, book-length studies or documentary dissections. Chess fans or “The Shining” fanatics, Scrabble buffs or orchid thieves, we never tire … Continue reading →

So many movies about Mary Shelley and the writing of “Frankenstein,” and yet there’s always room for another bad one. “A Nightmare Wakes,” coming entirely too soon after the bigger budget/name cast “Mary Shelley,” or for that matter “Gothic” and … Continue reading →

Men watching “4×4” might breathe a sigh of relief when Ciro, trapped inside a locked-and-bulletproof Toyota Highlander, reaches into the glove compartment and consults the owner’s manual. Women viewers? We know you’re going to roll your eyes, so just get … Continue reading →

The “comedy of manners” is a long-established tradition of Western fiction. Jane Austen collected a lot of posthumous Oscars mastering that genre. The “tragedy of manners” is less common, limited to the occasional “Remains of the Day.” But if any … Continue reading →

The interminable horror period piece “The Reckoning” is a picture out of its time. It’s a Restoration plague, swirling amidst witch hunters, witch trials and positively Medieval punishments. Let’s give Neil Marshall (“The Descent”) and his team the benefit of … Continue reading →