Monthly Archives: June 2023

In a summer marked by “outrageous” women-driven comedies of the “Oh no they DIDN’T” variety, Jennifer Lawrence‘s “No Hard Feelings” stands out as the most outrageous of them all. If your jaw doesn’t drop at the sight of a two-time … Continue reading →

Every baseball fan knows about the Negro Leagues, that parallel baseball universe that competed and thrived in the decades before “baseball apartheid” ended and America’s Pastime brought Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby and others into the Major Leagues. Ken Burns had … Continue reading →

Shudder has this “No one knows we’re out here” thriller, set in Colombia. July 14.

“The Wildflower” is an infuriating melodrama about victims of abuse in Nigeria, oddly presented as a “dramedy” to the domestic market, as some of what’s being shown is alleged to have a comic intent. We’re meant to be infuriated by … Continue reading →

Four white guys in glasses, jeans or khakis, “They looked more like nerds than punks.” But “punks” don’t come from Kansas, even Wichita, Kansas. “Art punks,” maybe? The Embarrassment were a band in a bubble, almost the only kids their … Continue reading →

A fight club for girls, pushed around and bullied and reaching that point where yeah, “Let’s go f—up some football players!” Bad girl Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Marshawn Lynch, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Dagmara Dominczyk and Ruby Cruz are … Continue reading →

I think it took me maybe 10 minutes — OK possibly 15 –– before I figured out that “Bodega,” a film about an Instagram-obsessed/Instagram-famous bodega-owner and drug dealer, is a mockumentary and not a DOCumentary. There’s nothing all that far-fetched … Continue reading →

A demon makes mischief in an Indonesian village and the result is a bloodbath, with feuding locals under that demon’s influence and a little cannibalism thrown in for um, flavor. That’s “Para Betina Pengikut Iblis,” whose title appears to translate … Continue reading →

I have never seen a “last party” teen romp as violent at “The Crusades,” a would-be coming-of-age comedy that drowns in a hot tub of toxic testosterone. It opens with a teen-planned/teen-featured cage fight and climaxes wtih a gang brawl … Continue reading →

The movies used to be more fearless when it came to breaking children’s hearts. Films like “Bambi” and “Old Yeller” weren’t bent on shielding a child from the knowledge that the world is an impermanent place, that pets and parents … Continue reading →