Monthly Archives: May 2023

A twenty year old franchise that has been on cruise control, more or less, for a decade, appears to have hit a wall. “Fast X,” coming just a couple of years after the previous “Fast and the Furious” film, following … Continue reading →

Well damn, I did not see this coming. The best film in ages about coming to grips with “fluid” gender issues so dominating film, TV and other media these days is smart, reassuringly sweet and Polish. I dare say you … Continue reading →

The mere presence of Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a Manhattan movie creates expectations even though we’re decades-removed from her “Seinfeld” stardom. But this time she’s working for that indie icon Nicole Holofcener, a writer and director known for intimate and sometimes … Continue reading →

An elderly man walks into the frame and sits on a park bench, a ritual repeated tens of millions of times every much day pretty everywhere in the world. This little old man with a Spanish accent isn’t talking about … Continue reading →

Granted, it is a post World War I story, the tail end of “the closing of the West” era. But this October Awards Season release has Oscar winners and an epic look and an “erased” history subject. DiCaprio and De … Continue reading →

One of the great gifts the cinema has bestowed on us has been the lovely third act comeback afforded writer-director Paul Schrader. A figure from the “Taxi Driver,” “Hardcore” and “Raging Bull” era of iconoclastic American cinema, he was all … Continue reading →

I did theater in high school, worked on shows in college. But plainly I was missing out, not going to “Theater Camp.” This summer release from Searchlight is so clever and tolerant it could get banned in Florida. See it … Continue reading →

This looks rough and tumble, and a tad edgy. A Middle Eastern poet and med student who gets a rep as a “Dr. Feelgood,” thanks to his hipper-than-thou, gets-around girlfriend? As Paris Hilton would say in her day, “Sounds hot.” … Continue reading →

I could not WAIT to get to the Norwegian “Royalteen” sequel, “Royalteen: Princess Margrethe,” (he lied). I mean, what could top that soapy “going to high school with royalty and falling for a prince” fairytale with “real teen” sex and … Continue reading →

Holofcener made Catherine Keener a star, and gave Jennifer Aniston one of her best roles. This looks wonderful.