Monthly Archives: May 2023

Lithuanian filmmaker Sharunas Bartas achieves a “Defiance” level of grim, wintry detail in his post-war Soviet occupation drama “In the Dusk.” The director of “The Corridor,” “Freedom” and “Frost” tells a story of his native land’s countryside in 1948, with … Continue reading →

“Joy Ride” is loud, vulgar and crude, exactly what you’d expect from an Asian-American romp across “Girls’ Trip/Bridesmaids” terrain. But “Crazy Rich Asians” screenwriter turned director Adele Lim gives this raunchy road trip comedy a “Joy Luck Club” detour into … Continue reading →

Walt Disney Co. has taken a lot of abuse for converting its animated classics into still-largely-animated live action films. But The Mouse knows a dollar when it sees one sitting on the shelf as Disney-owned intellectual property. The new less-animated … Continue reading →

Memorial Day weekend always means WWII movie marathons on all your favorite classic movie channels. But I thought I’d get a jump on that by tracking down a favorite of mine from the ’80s and watching it for the first … Continue reading →

“Where the Tracks End” is an affectionate appreciation for the broke, small town schools that were the rule in much of Mexico much longer than they should have been, and the inspiring, intrepid women and men who made it their … Continue reading →

“Blood & Gold” is a sadistically funny German Spaghetti Western set in the last days of World War II. Suspenseful and violent, with brawls, booby traps, impalings and machine gunnings, it’s damned entertaining in the ways it finds to kill … Continue reading →

“Simulant,” the latest slice of cautionary sci-fi about “sexy replicants/androids/’simulants’” developing minds of their own points to one solution worth tossing into the current debate over the many forms and faces of AI — artificial intelligence. Make a rule that … Continue reading →

Not as many laughs in this trailer, and as this narrows the focus of this tale to broke barmaid/Uber driver who “dates” a young guy because her parents promise her a Buick Regal, that’s all on the star. Jennifer Lawrence … Continue reading →

When “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” hit the road a few years back, two different women were cast to play the singing, dancing tyro from “Nutbush City Limits.” The producers weren’t stupid. What mere mortal could pull off what Turner … Continue reading →

Craftsmanship counts for a lot in the pristine, PG-13 frights of “The Boogeyman,” a polished and well-cast Stephen King adaptation. As spine-tingling suspense is a reflexive human response that can generated by shot-selection, lighting, music that sets a tone and … Continue reading →