Yearly Archives: 2023

A decent Thursday “preview” and solid Friday points to a $16-17 million opening weekend for the video gamer-turned-racer “true story” “Gran Turismo,” not bad for the next to last weekend of summer, but wholly justifying the release strategy of playing … Continue reading →

“Before, Now & Then” is a dreamy Indonesian drama about changing expectations and ideas of “freedom” that pass through the life of a Muslim woman through twenty years of her life. This Berlin Film Festival award winner is a period … Continue reading →

Boy, it takes more than a few minutes to get one’s mind around the idea that Adam Sandler’s produced and co-stars in a comedy which you simply must use the word “endearing” to describe. “Charming” works its way in, “kind … Continue reading →

The stakes are higher, the cast has lost any pandemic-paunch/puffiness and everybody tries harder in “Vacation Friends 2,” which is something, I guess. And having John Cena reveal to the world, via a scripted character’s little admission, what we’ve all … Continue reading →

You think you know what you’re going to get from a Liam Neeson thriller titled “Retribution.” But his latest, the third remake of a “There’s a bomb in your car and you can’t get out” Spanish thriller (“El Desconocido”), has … Continue reading →

Hey, I’m talking about the MOVIE. Not the crook getting more of his just deserts. Yeah, I could’ve gotten a Lionsgate screener link for this title. But a friend loves Liam Neeson, and really The Big Irishman should ooooonly be … Continue reading →

Harper’s an LA professional woman in her late 20s, an ad campaign director as put-together, perfectly turned-out and organized as her pristine, perfectly-conceived magazine ad shoots. And then, just as she gets the news that a prestigious account has landed … Continue reading →

Yvonne Orji and Meredith Hagner are back, too. And even scene-stealing hotel manager Maurillio (Carlos Santos) returns. Ronnie Chieng and Buscemi (as the ex-con father-in-law to Ron and Kyla) join the cast of this raunchy sequel. Yeah, they’ll try too … Continue reading →

“Fremont” is a droll comedy about the immigrant experience that only has to hint at the trauma such uprootings often involve, and about how residents of the host country generally don’t have a clue about what this newcomer is dealing … Continue reading →

I was wondering where everybody’s favorite villain, Ben Mendelsohn, had got off to. He and Daisy Ridley and Garrett Hedlund star in this adaptation of Karen Dionne’s novel about a woman who has to confront her past when the monster … Continue reading →