Monthly Archives: January 2023

One of the pleasures and indeed responsibilities of movie reviewing is remembering the lesson of a Hans Christian Andersen folk tale. Some folks review films based on their hype, the “director’s statement” of what it’s about, or a careful consideration … Continue reading →

Maja is a Danish actress who has found a new love, but who comes to realize her “Attachment” isn’t the one that rules her new lover’s life in this thriller that dabbles in Jewish supernaturalism. It’s a mysterious, quietly suspenseful … Continue reading →

As I looked up the credits of this 1932 film, I stumbled across a 2022 remake I missed starring Casper van Diem and Judd Nelson, among others. That’s hardly a surprise. “The Most Dangerous Game” is the most filmed, referenced, … Continue reading →

It’s big, sprawling and formulaic. Scenes are filled with legions of extras and futuristic science fiction vistas — gigantic structures on Earth and in space, teeming masses rallying around the idea that working together we can ultimately save ourselves. And … Continue reading →

The director of the action-packed Korean zombie thriller “Train to Busan” spends Netflix’s money on effects for “Jung_E,” a talkative, pseudo-cerebral thriller about AI, the future of human consciousness and ways for-profit industries might exploit it. It’s a thriller bookended … Continue reading →

Hiring the editors from “Searching,” the sleeper hit of a few years back about a father (John Cho) hunting for his missing daughter via her digital/social media footprint, pays off with “Missing,” a sort of sequel from the same studio, … Continue reading →

A gimmicky, obscurant and clumsy style of storytelling spoils what could have been gripping story about a young Russian figure skater who “jumps” across the border to Finland in “Free Skate,” a film written by and starring Finnish actress Veera … Continue reading →

March 10.

“Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman,” is a classic culture clash melodrama, one of the most celebrated works (a play) by Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. It comes to the screen with all of its rhetorical power and a lot of … Continue reading →

Of all the tones in all of lightly comic cinema, “twee” has to be the hardest to master. Documentary filmmaker Derek Shimoda, whose film on the history of fortune cookies I remember, takes his shot at “twee” with “Hank and … Continue reading →