Yearly Archives: 2023

Our performative “Attention Culture” didn’t begin with Youtube. Actually, it pretty much did. Winter did great explainer docs about Blockchain and The Panama Papers. This looks like another winner from the Bill to Keanu’s Ted.

“Road Rally Racers” is an Anglo-Welsh production of an Anglo-American animated film set in China, and released by U.S. based distributor Viva Kids. I think I have all that straight — Vanguard Animation, Riverstone Pictures, Viva Kids. Right. It’s an … Continue reading →

This June 9 French language romance is from Pietro Marcello, director of the Italian drama based on a Jack London novel, “Martin Eden.” A real-life “Juliette,” Juliette Jouan, stars, with Ralph Thierry and that Louis Garrel fellow, most recently seen … Continue reading →

In action pictures, “over the top” is rarely a bad thing. A little “ludicrous” is a given. But even by those grade-on-the-curve standards, “The Mother,” the new Jennifer Lopez thriller about an assassin trying to protect the daughter she never … Continue reading →

Texas filmmaker Robert Rodriguez never became a “brand,” which seems kind of a shame when you’re wondering how to sell his latest, a thriller titled “Hypnotic.” “From the fevered mind of Robert Rodriguez” seems to sum it up, and would … Continue reading →

“Crater” is a slick, cutesie kids’ action melodrama that makes the point that no matter where we transport them, human kids will be kids. And left to their own reckless devices, they’ll go all “Goonies” on you, even on the … Continue reading →

“The Favorite.” “The Lobster.” Now, Sept. 8, oddness incarnate, “Poor Things.”

Charlie Day made his bones as a funnyman as the guy with the fingersnails-on-a-chalkboard voice. The screeching star of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Horrible Bosses” and “Fist Fight” takes his shot at mime with “Fool’s Paradise,” a making-movies comedy … Continue reading →

I didn’t much care for “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” although I can appreciate the attempt to meld elements of the Theatre of the Absurd, memory plays and magical realism into something odd, obscurant and quite out of the ordinary. … Continue reading →

Eva Longoria’s directing debut is about the “legend” of the real-life janitor who invents a popular snack food grabbed Dennis Haysbert and Tony Shaloub and Matt Walsh in support of Jesse Garcia and Annie Gonzalez for this June 9 Disney+/Hulu … Continue reading →