Monthly Archives: October 2022

The doctor is young, without anything resembling a comforting bedside manner. “I’m scared,” the patient says. “I know” is all he’s got for her. But at least he walks her through what he’s doing, step by step. “You will feel … Continue reading →

Martin Newell is a cantankerous British musician, singer, songwriter and poet who never quite got over the Dickensian wardrobe excesses of of the post-glam era in pop. He was in a few bands that never caught on, but he was … Continue reading →

The gotchas are grand, the production design creepy and the undead as undead as ever in Indonesian horror maestro Joko Anwar’s “Satan’s Slaves: Communion,” the sequel to his 2017 zombie hit. The writer-director took care to not forget the fun … Continue reading →

First time they’ve shared the credits since “Pulp Fiction?” Granted, both have seen a lot of better days since then, better days that wound down long before now. This thriller rolls out Nov. 11. “

Imagine a “West Side Story” where the gang-bangers are unisex toughs and the squares are forced to confront their own unspoken gender identity issues, all set on neon-soaked sound-stages dressed with 1950s props and “Cabaret” decadence. That’s “Please Baby Please,” … Continue reading →

The milieu is more interesting than anyone in it and anything they do or have happen to them in “Ragged Heart,” an earthy dive into the underbelly of a “music scene that was” — Athens, Ga. It’s the college town … Continue reading →

“Next Exit” is about a cross-country drive in pursuit of a supervised “research study” suicide, and as such, it’s more a road comedy than an existential quest. Not that first-time feature writer-director Mali Elfman doesn’t try to have it both … Continue reading →

The things some people will go to avoid watching the damned Yankees. Stumbling across “Eight Men Out” last night brought back memories of the film, what it represented — a turn towards mainstream by indie film icon John Sayles — … Continue reading →

Interesting stunt, pairing Hoffman and his son and Spacek with her daughter for a comically curmudgeon romance. Vertical has this one.

It’s only when you spend five minutes on your favorite search engine that it becomes obvious how much of what we in the West believe or known about the Buddhist offshoot, meditation-oriented religion Falun Gong is what the Paranoid People’s … Continue reading →