Monthly Archives: December 2021

A low-budget Belgian thriller of a few years back becomes a lean if not wholly logical James McAoy vehicle of the same title in “My Son,” which has him and Claire Foy playing divorced parents frantically searching for their missing … Continue reading →

I’m guessing you have to know a lot more about the pre-history of the Spanish Civil War than I did going into “Gun City,” a sprawling multi-character muddle film noir take on those years titled “La sombra de la Ley” … Continue reading →

A filmmaker of rare sensibilities, a genuine “actor’s director” who helped Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto win Oscars, and after “Wild,” became Reese Witherspoon’s go-to filmmaker for her acclaimed cable series “Big Little Lies,” then “borrowed” by Amy Adams for … Continue reading →

Today’s Around the World with Netflix offering is a first year residents med school comedy from Brazil. “Lulli” borrows its premise from the “What Women Want/What Men Want” mind-reading comedies. But in situations and dialogue, in Portuguese or in English, … Continue reading →

“One of Our Aircraft is Missing” has plenty that labels it as dated, a combat film of simple set-ups, primitive effects, plucky characters and attitudes easily seen as morale-boosting propaganda today. But what’s striking about this early production of The … Continue reading →

There’ve been a few attempts, over the decades, to rewrite the history of Billy Wilder’s 1964 clunker “Kiss Me, Stupid.” It’s “underrated” thanks to a winning Dean Martin as “Dino” kperformance, worth re-assessing because of a risque late scene Wilder … Continue reading →

Let Hollywood plunge headlong into the CGI animals who hear the “Call of the Wild,” the easier to manage computer-generated bears and wolves, Persians and Chihuahuas they’re shoving into more and more films. In France, they still do things the … Continue reading →

“The Scary of Sixty-First” is a lurid, bloody and somewhat misguided exploration of the crimes and mysterious death of well-connected human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in horror film form. But it’s hard to effectively comment on and condemn a notorious sex … Continue reading →

It’s hard to recall any movie that rings as hollow and false as “This is the Night.” But then, my memory isn’t what it once was. That’s not to say that this growing up Italian on Staten Island, “Coming of … Continue reading →