Monthly Archives: February 2021

Good thrillers make you work to figure out what’s going on and assume you’re smart enough to do just that. Bad thrillers explain, explain and over-explain, as if you’re even dumber than the folks who made them. “Paranormal Prison” has … Continue reading →

What are they selling here, aside from the obvious?

We will see what we see when we see it.

Of all the mob hits and Mafia massacres you’ve read about or seen dramatized in the movies, nothing compares to a Capo eyeballing a kids’ soccer team, then arranging for them to meet with “an accident” during their trip to … Continue reading →

“The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity” is an effects-and-exposition-stuffed character-cluttered Chinese martial arts fantasy — heavy on the fantasy, light on the martial arts. Dammit. But rather than let the collage of images above suffice, I suppose I should give … Continue reading →

The personal essay documentary is kind of old-hat now. Everyone who powers up a camera is at least tempted to pull a Michael Moore and make their movie largely about themselves and some sort of personal investigation or journey. Mark … Continue reading →

Robin Wright’s directing debut has a quiet, Earthy elegance about it that mirrors our image of the her as an actress and a public figure. “Land” takes the director and leading lady out of her natural milieu and puts her … Continue reading →

Dystopian enough for you? Iain Glenn is the one face and voice I recognize in this Berlin FF premiere. Striking to look at. https://youtu.be/hw0m4B6UkHA

Back in a simpler or — let’s face it — more “simplistic” time, we didn’t seem to have this “bullying” problem that has taken hold of the national consciousness this past decade. We thought we understood “Bullying is bad” as … Continue reading →