Monthly Archives: February 2023

Today’s DVD Donation? “Poppy” comes to tiny Littleton, N.C.

This Aussie indie film is about a teen with Down Syndrome who doesn’t let social expectations or her brother’s concerns keep her from meeting her ambitions. Hope the patrons of the Willie Jones Public Library appreciate “Poppy.” Movie Nation, spreading … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Lemmon and Matthau and Wilder, “The Fortune Cookie,” (1966)

“Race” never figured in the comedies, thrillers and dramas of the great Austrian-American filmmaker Billy Wilder. You can wade through his entire 50 year career and wonder why you never see a Black face. The rest of his industry in … Continue reading

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Netflixable? Teen Sailor goes Around Alone, “True Spirit”

“True Spirit” is a plucky feel-good tale of a teen girl’s quest to be the youngest to ever sail “Around Alone.” Directed and acted with a light touch, packed with bubbly pop music montages and finished off with a dollop … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Shades of “Hitchhiker’s Guide” and “Red Dwarf,” Britcom “We Are Not Alone” Manages a Chuckle

Stumbling across this lightly-amusing comedy on Roku, there are certain “truths” that are, as Mr. Jefferson would have noted, “self-evident.” “We Are Not Alone” plays like a sitcom pilot, which it almost certainly is, a 90 minute set up for … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Wasikowska, Radha and Bana and a Teen Girl who wants to save a “Blueback”

Now THIS is how you cut a feel-good movie trailer with a kid, a cause and wildlife. Radha Mitchell plays the mum, Ilsa Fogg young Abby, Mia Wasikowska as our crusading girl as an adult, and Eric Bana as a … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Matthau Stars, Directs and flirts with his future wife in “Gangster Story” (1959)

It’s funny to think about how late Hollywood was in figuring out Walter Matthau was a natural comic actor. For the first couple of decades of his film and TV career, nobody thought to let him go for a laugh. … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Christoph Waltz, Sam Neill, Patrick Gibson and Sophie Wilde consider “The Portable Door”

Miranda Otto also stars in this “Time Bandits” meets “The Adjustment Bureau” fantasy about a corporation that fiddles with fate via a sort of “Jumpers” gimmick of a door that parks you hither and yon on demand. This Sky TV … Continue reading

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Movie Review: 1999 BFFs try to cope with life’s “Millennium Bugs”

“Millennium Bugs” is a murky look back at Y2K Eve, a comedy that struggles to find laughs in end-of-the-90s fashions, slang and panic over what the world might look like when computers glitch as the year 2000 begins. It’s a … Continue reading

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Netflixable? “Infiesto” — A Piquant Pandemic Police Procedural from Spain

I’ve developed a passion for Spanish police procedurals. Or rather, Netflix’s “What you should try next” algorithm has. And I’m OK with that, as it’s a genre the Spanish cinema has a good handle on, and these “Around the World … Continue reading

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BOX OFFICE: “Knock at the Cabin” and “80 for Brady” dethrone “Avatar” in a Weekend Race that May Go to the Wire

Deadline.com is seeing the box office race this first of Feb. weekend as too close to call, as of Sat. AM. And for the first time since Christmas, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” won’t swim away as the winner. M. … Continue reading

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