Monthly Archives: January 2023

Little-seen if occasionally revived, Jean-Denis Bonan’s “A Woman Kills” is an arch, experimental and titillating French thriller from that seminal year in modern French history, 1968. It’s not particularly revolutionary, as one might expect from an era of demonstrations and … Continue reading →

A petite, kitty-and-cat-video-obsessed pixie punches, slices, stabs and shoots well above her weight in “The Violence Action,” a candy-colored yakuza-killing comedy from Japan. Based on a comic book, cast with mostly ex-child actors who look like the figures in Shin … Continue reading →

Tom Sizemore is decades beyond his “Saving Private Ryan” glory. But he’s top billed in “Bermuda Island,” a plane crash thriller that in no way should be confused with “Plane.” Spoiler alert — Sizemore, playing a flight attendant (Stop laughing!) … Continue reading →

The Polish drama “Illusion” (“Illuzja”), like the missing person search it is about, gives up its secrets sparingly and quietly. We follow a mother (Agata Buzek) who staggers from hope to despair, passing through grief to exasperation along the way, … Continue reading →

“Kids vs. Aliens” is a low-budget horror comedy with big “Goonies” energy, a “Psycho Goreman” riff on kids who love horror movies who find themselves living through one. It’s the latest from Canadian Jason Eisener, who directed “Hobo with a … Continue reading →

This opens in limited release in the US three days after the Oscar nominations are announced. Egypt today, looks promising. Jan. 27.

Business is up some $30 million over last year’s dismal Martin Luther King Day four-day weekend box office take. The reason? “Avatar: The Way of Water” ($35 million over four days), “M3GAN” in the $20-22 range over those same four … Continue reading →

The Hitchcock films that draw me back in, time and again, are the lighter-hearted ones. As much as I relish “Strangers on a Train,””Vertigo,” “Rear Window” or “Notorious,” it’s the murderous, mysterious larks that hold up best for me. I … Continue reading →

“Lonesome” is a danged-near-adorable throwback romance that plays like a love letter to being single and mingling in Milwaukee. Producer/writer/director Tony K. Hall shot it in black and white — with cotton candy and its effects on the tongue the … Continue reading →

Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and the boys chew on “Train Kept a Rollin’” while David Hemmings searches searches searches for his someone. Did director Michelangelo Antonioni tell that crowd to stand stock still so that Hemmings could weave amongst them? … Continue reading →