Monthly Archives: March 2021

It begins with mercenaries massacring a village in the Republic of Georgia, because they won’t accept a gas pipeline scheduled to pass through it. It prematurely climaxes with an attack on a Eurostar Chunnel train, passengers popped without pity by … Continue reading →

“Happily” is a dark fantasy parable about marriage with a good cast, a little edge but not nearly enough wit or clever twists to come off. It’s about that “perfect” couple that drives all their friends nuts and the idea … Continue reading →

All over Istanbul, entrepreneurial scavengers pull junk carts, filling the canvas bags on those carts with recyclable cans, liquor bottles and especially cardboard. A lot of them are orphans, the street children of the city who grew up on this … Continue reading →

I’ve interviewed Olympia Dukakis a few times over the years, but let me tell you about catching the Oscar winner, stage legend and TV acting icon on a bad day. She was just recovering from an injury, but had gamely … Continue reading →

The best moments in the Netflix comedy “Yes Day” don’t involve slapstick — although there’s some of that. They don’t come from the list of scenes that include the big water balloon fight, driving through the car wash with the … Continue reading →

Channel surfing by this title the other night took me back to 1986, when John Hughes was just finishing up an epic run as “Movie Voice of American Teenagers” and Molly Ringwald took her curtain call as The Girl in … Continue reading →

Much respect for writer-director Stephen Basilone for leaning into what any movie fan is thinking after our hero is bowled over by our bubbly heroine in “Long Weekend.” “Are you REAL?” Bart (Finn Wittrock) wants to know of this Force … Continue reading →

So tell me what shocking about this pitch. Some Obama speech writer and image manager is scripting a remake of “The President’s Analyst.” That 1960s comically paranoid thriller offered us the phone company as the Big Villains out to Rule … Continue reading →

“Luz” is a slow, soapy prison romance that, if nothing else, is not quite like any prison and “getting out” picture you’ve ever seen. It comes at Latin machismo from a queer point of view, upending prison and post-prison life … Continue reading →

Something’s made the old fisherman sleepwalk. He stares off into space, blacks out, forgets where he’s been or why he took his boat out in the middle of the night. Is he drinking? Has mental illness taken him? Is it … Continue reading →