Monthly Archives: April 2021

Much of the world has been turning out sparkling, or at least amusing comedies about displaced workers finding the pluck to succeed for years. You’d think the Italian creators of “Beate (Blessed)” could have made a funnier, sunnier film in … Continue reading →

There’s nothing for it but to call the contemplative Swede Roy Andersson’s “About Endlessness” the fourth film in his “trilogy” about the futility/banality/hopelessness of life, “Living,” which supposedly ended with. “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.” And … Continue reading →

Let’s trot out that $7 word we use for movies like “Honeydew” — “obscurant.” As in “Let’s control the release of information, futz around with the frame, the soundtrack and the editing to see if we can lure folks into … Continue reading →

Today’s journey Around the World with Netflix lets us see how an Indian team approaches the classic “three hander,” the time-worn stagebound thriller with only three principal characters. “Irul” is a chatty, twisty and overwrought “dark and stormy night” tale … Continue reading →

“Keeping the Bees” is a Turkish drama set in the little-filmed northeastern region of the country, in the southern edges of the Caucasus Mountains. It’s a downbeat parable about a local woman (Meryem Uzerli) who comes home from Germany, where … Continue reading →

Is the world rediscovering a lost masterpiece as it flocks (via Netflix) back to “Waterworld?” Maybe that’s going a bit far, but revisiting this film, which I found fun and often thrilling upon its initial release, is a reminder of … Continue reading →

Writer-director Neil Burger (“The Illusionist,” “Divergent”) serves up a great big “Lord of the Flies in Space” sci-fi allegory in “Voyagers,” a bleak thriller about human nature’s toxic side, unleashed on a long space voyage. It’s not terrible, but it’s … Continue reading →

Hey, you can’t say you weren’t warned. I mean, it’s right there in the title. Broadway star, “Star Search” alumnus and LP-selling machine Sam Harris looked back over his greasepaint spattered life and recognized what anybody who makes it in … Continue reading →

One of the featured screenings at this year’s Florida Film Festival is an April 18 showing of the David Lynch classic “Blue Velvet.” Will I see you there, at Maitland’s Enzian theater? Will Isabella see you? Because we’re doing a … Continue reading →

If it is remembered for nothing else, “What Lies Below” has bragging rights for the creepiest, ickiest menstrual moment in recent movie history. So take a bow, writer-director Braden R. Duemmler. Add that to the sizzle reel and the resume. … Continue reading →