Monthly Archives: October 2021

The Polish comic thriller “In for a Murder” only finds its sweet spot briefly, and then only very late in the third act. Veteran writer-director Piotr Mularuk (“Zuma”) was going for something light, a frothy murder mystery which has been … Continue reading →

“The Spine of Night” is a reasonably good-looking — and gory — animated sword and sorcery saga for adults, a movie set in a wholly-realized fantasy world, but lacking a story or characters that invite us to invest ourselves in … Continue reading →

The giddy whimsy that’s been Wes Anderson’s brand since his earliest films is more subdued, the ornate, baroque world of “family” or “family where you find it” a lot more cluttered in “The French Dispatch.” Let others make intermission-length Netflix … Continue reading →

This Nov. 5 release has a genuinely unsettling trailer, which is sometimes a good sign. Oh yes, I’ll be reviewing this.

As madcap, slapstick Norwegian bloodbath comedies go, “I Onde Dager (In Bad Times)” isn’t half bad. Dark, grisly, suspenseful and laugh-out-loud funny, it sometimes skips and sometimes lopes along — scored to jaunty Norwegian pop, rock and an unforgettable Norske … Continue reading →

Hand it to the Brits who conjured up “They’re Outside,” a never-quite-reaches-lukewarm thriller in the “found footage” “Blair Witch” mold. They conceived a movie about a documentary shot as an unlicensed Youtube psychotherapist videoed himself trying to “cure” a woman’s … Continue reading →

“Luzzu” is a simple but gripping drama about a Maltese fisherman facing the end of his generations-long profession in a world of globe-trotting trawlers, international trade and climate change. Its star is a real-life Maltese fisherman, a man so intimately … Continue reading →

Man, what was in that brownie I finished off lunch with? “The Magical Journey” plays as some kind of half-arsed, trippy flashback to the Bad Old Days of Eastern Bloc children’s cinema. It’s a kids fantasy with a trio of … Continue reading →

The latest reboot of “Dune” opened to enthusiastic reviews, some less enthusiastic than others. And its first weekend it hit a healthy but underwhelming $40.1 million at the box office. Yes, it’s long. And yes, it is sci fi and … Continue reading →

Many a long, poetic scene decorates the John Patrick Shanley (“Moonstruck”) Irish romance “Wild Mountain Thyme,” just two characters talking, the way the Irish do, about “waiting” which the Irish also do. That might explain why this light charmer starring … Continue reading →