Monthly Archives: May 2021

“The Human Factor” aims to be a sort of “how we got here” depiction of the impasse in efforts to obtain peace between Israel, the Palestinians and Syrians in the Middle East. Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh (“Sharon,” “The Gatekeepers”) limits … Continue reading →

“Ondine” is one of those Irish dramedies that you see as you’re scrolling down this or that streaming menu (Roku, Tubi, etc. have it) and you wonder, “Haven’t I seen that?” It’s a sea sprite romance — “Selkies,” they’re called. … Continue reading →

I submit that even at this late date, with director Stanley Kubrick long parked near the top of the cinematic pantheon, that we’re allowed to watch at least the first 20 minutes of the first jewel in his crown, “The … Continue reading →

Olympia Dukakis passed away today in her New York home, her family has announced. The Oscar winning star of *Moonstruck,” theater legend and acting “force of nature” was 89. I got to talk with her a few times over the … Continue reading →

The thing about the past, America’s historian David McCullough once told me, is “those folks never knew, at the time, how things would turn out.” That’s worth keeping in mind in recreating any nation’s “storied” history, especially when it comes … Continue reading →

“The County” is a tense and intimate Icelandic drama about a tragedy that brings a tempest in a teapot to a boil. Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir plays Inga, a dairy farmer whose life is upended when her husband dies behind the … Continue reading →

Whatever the cast was paid, however much the writer-director-producer got for getting “Wrong Place, Wrong Time” finished and in the hands of Uncork’d Entertainment, we can see where the real money was for this demons-and-dumdum bullets tale. The lady or … Continue reading →

The story of how Stanley Kubrick selected his subject for the “horror movie” he wanted to make goes like this. He’d send his secretary out to book stores after work every night. And the next day she’d sit in the … Continue reading →

“Duty Free” is a featherlight feel-good documentary about a broke son’s efforts to give something back to his equally-broke mother when she loses her job. Here are the heart-tugging “hooks” to this Mother’s Day gift. Rebecca Danigelis is an English … Continue reading →