Monthly Archives: April 2021

You’d have to go back — WAY back — to find a New York tale as sweet and uplifting as “The Outside Story.” It’s the cinema’s first bon bon of 2021, a slight but unexpected delight. Writer-director Casimir Nozkowski’s debut … Continue reading →

Here’s a fun little cover-up-a-killing thriller set in the cutthroat subculture of board games and their creation. “Murder Bury Win” sports a few flashes of wit and some engaging characters, but lacks the pacing and punchiness that might have put … Continue reading →

The phrase “sullen teen” doesn’t know borders and has symptoms one can recognize anywhere on Earth. The frown is there just to break up the monotony of the omnipresent scowl. “Please” and “thank you” are the hardest words in any … Continue reading →

I seem to recall diving into the original “Dunkirk” film, a black and white epic made in 1958, and never getting very far into it. As war movies go, it’s a drab, formulaic affair, even by the “Longest Day” standards … Continue reading →

Suki Waterhouse stars in this May 21 release. Creepy enough for you?

Under 10 million watched the Oscars, under 9 watched the Grammys, under 7 watched the Golden Globes. It’s like people woke up and decided awards shows are a bore. Or…nobody wants to see this Zoom version of the circle jerk … Continue reading →

Let others dismiss stories of addiction and the awful ordeal of attempted recovery as a genre where over-familiarity has bred contempt. As long as America’s endless opioid epidemic goes on and as long as there are actors willing to “dress … Continue reading →

This July release from Searchlight and Hulu is the Questlove-produced edit of footage gathered at the “Soul Woodstock,” the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Sly and Nina Simone, Gil Scott-Heron and the Staples, B.B. King and Moms Mabley — an epic … Continue reading →

We all take our favorites into Oscar night, all have hopes that “THIS” will be the year that the Academy Awards become a true meritocracy, that the worthiest will win in every category. I have lost interest in watching the … Continue reading →

French critics had to invent the auteur theory, a way of re-examining filmmaking artists who “pounded the same nail, over and over again” revealing themes, tropes and concepts that their cinema could reliably be counted on to deliver, for the … Continue reading →