Monthly Archives: August 2021

I got eight episodes into “Only Murders in the Building,” the comic mystery series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as aspiring “true crime” podcasters trying to solve a mysterious death in their New York apartment tower. That’s … Continue reading →

Shuya Chang stars in this violent, drugs-and-human-trafficking underworld thriller. It’s an Oct 29 release from Samuel Goldwyn and Roadside Attractions.

“Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt)” is so gossamer-light and cute that you don’t realize how good it is until it punches you, right in the heart. Monica Zanetti’s Aussie LGBTQ coming-of-age romance never lets us see her, or … Continue reading →

That’s some first-rate comedy casting right there. Throw in Justin Long, as the academic “nerd.” And because Justin Long and I guess his brother co-wrote and co-directed this. September 17, the catfight begins.

The triumph of Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman” is the sense of occasion the director and her co-writer/producer Jordan Peele bring to this reboot. This is horror with grandeur, a movie that pays homage to history and feels so of-the-moment as to … Continue reading →

“Flag Day,” director and star Sean Penn’s painterly but somewhat perfunctory tale of toxic parenting, was intended as a star vehicle for his daughter Dylan Penn. And he makes sure it fills the bill, in that regard, a movie of … Continue reading →

There are “film festival” movies, pictures so odd that there’s no audience for them outside of “The Festival Circuit,” and there are student films, which are unpolished and indulgent for a reasons, and there are even student “film festival” films … Continue reading →

The teaser trailer to the next Tom Holland web-slinger installment is…a bit of Doctor Strange, a lot of Peter Parker summing up “the story so far.” Twitter is all aflutter over how Benedict C sounds like James Franco in this … Continue reading →

A notorious counterfeiter and his daughter bond or break apart in this “true story” directed by Penn.

“PAW Patrol: The Movie” is not for anybody old enough to read a movie review — even “Young Sheldon” in his nappies. With animation a little more “Jimmy Neutron” polished than TV, an infantile story and no jokes that play … Continue reading →