Monthly Archives: April 2021

The final film of Japanese director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi is meant to be a sweeping, playful three hour survey of Japanese culture, history and militarism as seen through its movies — a “Labyrinth of Cinema.” He cast actors as local film … Continue reading →

At his hit TV-show peak and just after, the most interesting things attached to Jerry Seinfeld were products of his wealth — how rich he was, how he could afford that vast and growing car collection, the romantic predicaments he … Continue reading →

You may think you’ve seen every pull-out-all-the-stops, spend all the money, make-a-laugh-a-minute romps the cinema had to offer in the “Mad Mad Mad World,” “Italian Job” ’60s and “Silent Movie” to “1941” ’70s. But if you’ve missed the French farce … Continue reading →

Almost everything the great Chinese director Zhang Yimou touches takes on the feel of an “epic.” So if the director of “House of Flying Daggers,” “The Great Wall,” “Hero” and “Flowers of War” turns his camera towards the Spy Game, … Continue reading →

Epic in scale, graphic in violence, the latest attempt to turn the video game “Mortal Kombat” into a movie has the air of “This time we mean business” about it. The effects are state-of-the-art, and a blood-spurting, kid-killing prologue punches … Continue reading →

Any history of TV’s landmark children’s series “Sesame Street” is going to have Muppets and songs, a lot of laughs and a few tears, and every letter of the alphabet — over and over again. Marilyn Agrelo’s warm and sentimental … Continue reading →

Just so we’re clear, please do NOT pass the ketchup. There’ll be no eating right after “Death Ranch,” and certainly no red meats or anything that comes with French fries. Here’s an old-fashioned grindhouse “splatter” film, with blood and entrails, … Continue reading →

If it wasn’t for Youtube, you’d have a helluva time convincing anybody under the age of 30 that Tiny Tim existed, or even could have existed. Androgynous ahead of his time, with a trilling falsetto that could crack glass, style … Continue reading →

His charitable acts and blasts of largesse are well documented, using his wealth to help, aid and make statements for civil and human rights and simple civility. His efforts particularly stand out during the pandemic, especially in his native Georgia … Continue reading →

“Goodbye Honey” has the makings of a lean, nervy first-rate B-movie, a thriller whose suspense delivers the goods. That it doesn’t throws that one missing ingredient into the spotlight — urgency. It’s an abduction tale in a remote setting, an … Continue reading →