Yearly Archives: 2023

Context is everything when it comes to “political thrillers,” especially “controversial” ones. “The Prisoner” is a war-of-wills tale set and filmed in the early days of The Cold War. Lauded by the British Film Academy (BAFTAs), banned at Cannes and … Continue reading →

It probably wasn’t on New Zealand journalist and filmmaker David Farrier’s mind as he tumbled into a story about narcississtic Kiwi name-caller, pathological liar and “in his own reality” con man named “Mister Organ” that he might have an American … Continue reading →

Veteran TV Writer director Chloe Domont (“Ballers,” “Shooter,” Billions,” etc.) makes her feature film debut with this nasty dig into sexism and cutthroat office politics Netflix is putting this and Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan work/romance conflict thriller in … Continue reading →

Smaller distributor, as is Nic Cage’s lot these days. Looks existential and dark and prophetic.

Imagine popping into a multiplex and diving into say, an “Avengers” or “Star Wars” movie. Imagine doing that in Papua-New Guinea or some place far removed from the “universes,” cultural tropes and long-beloved characters in those films and not having … Continue reading →

This Oct 3 release is about a couple of old farm coots and coping an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease. It looks a little lighter than that sounds.

Some decades back, I interviewed the great Texas writer Larry McMurtry (“Lonesome Dove,” “The Last Picture Show”) at a cocktail party thrown in his honor at the University of North Dakota’s Writers Conference, which that year was focused on Western … Continue reading →

Energy, violence and a breathless pace cover some of the many sins of “Freestyle,” a Polish hip hop thriller about selling drugs to finance a record because our Polish hero “needs to be spittin’” rhymes. Amped-up, coked-out drug dealers at … Continue reading →

Yorgos Lanthimos strikes again? “A woman plotting her course to freedom!”

Jane Fonda wasn’t the star attraction, or even the prettiest actress on the screen in her third film, 1962’s “Walk on the Wild Side.” The regal French beauty Capucine was higher billed. The versatile Anne Baxter and earth mama Joanna … Continue reading →