Monthly Archives: November 2022

One takes on mind-reading duties when confronted by a moody but confused and generally chills-and-thrills-free horror film like “The Friendship Game.” However it came out, it’s often helpful to consider what they had in mind and what the filmmakers were … Continue reading →

A big opening night and burly holiday Friday numbers are pointing to another Marvel blockbuster, this one good enough to make cinema owners remember pre COVID bottom lines. Huge HUGE opening. Deadline.com is saying $190 million in North America is … Continue reading →

Re-edited for a “director’s cut” or not, 1997’s “Going all the Way” is best appreciated as an all-star-from-before-they-were-big-stars artifact of ’90s cinema. It’s a post-Korean War period piece with a couple of future Oscar winners — Ben Affleck and Rachel … Continue reading →

Long before there was “mumblecore,” the sudden discovery that movies could be about conversation and almost nothing else, there was the theatrical “two hander.” Plays like “Night, Mother” and “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” and “True West” … Continue reading →

Perhaps I was too hasty to write off Renaults. Mais oui? It’s also pretty obvious France has found its answer to Jason Statham. His name’s Alban Lenoir. Did you see “Lost Bullet?” Yeah. That putain de mère, right there. I … Continue reading →

Life in the city wasn’t working for them, so the Hayes family pulled up stakes and moved to “the mountain.” Here, there’s no “job” for mom or dad, no bus ride to school for their two daughters. “We make the … Continue reading →

People keep messing with John Wick. He keeps killing them off. If they haven’t learned by March 24, they never will.

You can hand it to director James Gray, who gave us “The Immigrant,” “Ad Astra” and “The Yards,” for presenting a portrait of a childhood which he himself seemed to make “troubled.” His autobiographical “Armageddon Time” will prove to be … Continue reading →

“One Piece Film: Red” practically redefines the phrase “eye candy” when it comes to Japanese anime. A colorful cornucopia that pushes the shadings palette, it’s a musical fantasy action adventure so stuffed with characters that you pretty much have to … Continue reading →