Monthly Archives: November 2021

Yes, the title “My Dad’s Christmas Date” gives away the movie. But who do you think of when you hear this line? “My Dad spends Monday nights in church.” How about NOT Jeremy Piven? The former Cusack sidekick and second … Continue reading →

All most folks remember about Frank Capra’s next-to-last film is Frank Sinatra introducing “High Hopes” in it, sung in a duet with the cinema’s “other” 1950s redheaded little boy, Eddie Hodges. “High Hopes” won the best original song Oscar, and … Continue reading →

As pandemic break-up romantic comedies go, “The End of Us” isn’t half-bad. It turns out “less is more” in such films, and “End” scores over the big-budget “Locked Down,” the British “Together” and the French Netflixer “Stuck Together” by getting … Continue reading →

It’s a “start civilization over with a (celluloid) film camera” drama story, and it looks lovely. Dec. 17, “Last Words” earns a limited release.

John Malkovich and Frank Grillo also star in this Jan. 14 release, a tale of a rich guy imprisoned and tortured by a genuine femme fatale, and her henchmen.

He never finished it in his lifetime, but Jonathan Larson’s “Tick, Tick…BOOM” might be the ultimate “Let’s put on a show!” musical. The guy whose grand achievement was “Rent,” the “musical for the MTV generation,” lays bare his struggles to … Continue reading →

He’d done a lot of TV and bit parts in movies, mostly, before Clifton Collins Jr. first popped into the public consciousness with a gripping turn as one of the murders in “Capote.” I interviewed him back then and he … Continue reading →

“Writing with Fire” is an Indian documentary of citizen journalism at its most elemental and vital. It’s about Khabar Lahariya, the Northern Indian activist newspaper wholly staffed by “lower-caste” women who teach each other the journalism basics and then go … Continue reading →

Dec 17 on Hulu, kids.

This look at TV journalism and its fashion model “stars” “chasing ratings,” notoriety and riches looks pointed, scathing and funny. “France” opens Dec. 10 in LA and NYC.