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 →

The latest “Spider-Man” fell off a bit on its second weekend, pulling in another $81 million in North America alone. Biggest hit of the pandemic, buggiest (autocorrect is your friend) hit of the year, biggest Sony blockbuster ever. Everybody else … 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” (Dean Martin) performance, worth re-assessing because of a risque late … 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 →