Monthly Archives: May 2021

“Knots: A Forced Marriage Story” is a documentary that, on its surface, sounds like something from a more primitive place and time. More than one woman appearing in Kate Ryan Brewer’s film — legislator, activist or victim — marvels at … Continue reading →

Well, isn’t this just adorable? “The Paper Tigers” is a martial arts action comedy filled with punch-ups, knock-outs, insults and one-liners. Well-acted, with actors who know how to throw a kick and land a punch — and a punchline — … Continue reading →

Good piece from The Hollywood Reporter how online directed group buying is propping up AMC’s stock price, keeping it an attractive investment and a company worth loaning money so that it will survive the pandemic. It’s kind of a GameStop … Continue reading →

“Undergods” is a sci-fi fantasy of a dark and dystopian Europe, where “family” and feeling have broken down and the Putinesque rule of an uncaring State and its predatory oligarchs have numbed the people and normalized the awful. Chino Moya’s … Continue reading →

Berliner Ernst Lubitsch was a one-man-argument against the idea “Germans have no sense of humor” in the troubled 1930s and war-torn 1940s. As an expat in Hollywood, he directed some of the enduring comedies of his day, sophisticated farces with … Continue reading →

For their fourth collaboration, Jason Statham and director Guy Ritchie adapt a French thriller into a straight-up Hollywood-style blood-and-bullets vengeance tale. “Wrath of Man” thus becomes Ritchie’s most American film, totally free of the Cockney sass and mordant, morbid wit … Continue reading →

Let’s give Coach K — my nickname for Krasinski, you can ask him — a little screen time in the “How we got here” part of this sequel with prequel elements.

A horror thriller coming your way, and mine, June 1. Doesn’t look like much, but you never know.

Writer-director Cathy Yan’s playfully cynical “Dead Pigs” is bucket of cold water dumped on Chinese avarice at the start of The Chinese Century. Before “Birds of Prey,” Yan cooked up this week Chinese satire painted in broad strokes with a … Continue reading →

An upscale ghost story slated for late August release, this looks damned creepy. A good actress can make you believe in ghosts.