Monthly Archives: March 2022

When I was a kid I lived next door to a respectable middle class gent who ran the local pool hall in the small town where I grew up. His family made great neighbors, but I remember getting a warning, … Continue reading →

This March 25 was a film festival darling and now earns a commerical release March 25.

“Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” made Noomi Rapace one of the unlikeliest action heroines the screen has ever produced. She’s tiny –5’4″ — and when she cinches up a belt around her puffy polar jacket in her latest action thriller, … Continue reading →

Mood and message are paramount in Amazon Studios’ “Master,” a tale of institutional racism masquerading as a horror-on-campus thriller, instead of the other way around. First-time writer-director Mariama Diallo goes for a “Get Out” parable, wound up in the ingrained … Continue reading →

Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis didn’t do a lot of acting in his 65 years of hard playing, hard living and siring “Birth of the Cool.” But filmmakers knew that burning intensity and hoarse-whispered inscrutability would pop off the screen if … Continue reading →

“Windfall” is a talky, dramatically-flat hostage thriller that’s probably best-appreciated as the most reliable sort of genre piece you can film under a pandemic lockdown. It’s not particularly suspenseful and not remotely original. But three pretty good actors gather together … Continue reading →

Another “Cheaper by the Dozen?” With an inter-racial couple and their huge but “no, not a cult” family, tested by racism, mistrust and sudden affluence? Sure, why not. And no, that’s not a ringing endorsement for Disney’s latest reboot of … Continue reading →

One of the toughest decisions facing anybody involved with a movie is recognizing “Well, Hell, somebody beat us to it” and knowing when to throw in the towel. The Keke Palmer enslaved woman’s revenge thriller “Alice” went into production as … Continue reading →

Here’s the novel touch to “Rescued by Ruby,” an utterly adorable hero dog tale based on a true story. Director Katt Shea and her team include outtakes of the gorgeous rescue border collie mix “Bear” who has the title role … Continue reading →

The chases are pulse-pounding and the fights and shoot-outs — in streets and bars, hotel suites and inside a BMW SUV — are visceral, almost epic. Just don’t let the fact that the Korean body-switch thriller “Spiritwalker” is confusing on … Continue reading →