Monthly Archives: June 2023

Irene is young, dancing along the fine line between those French labels “gamine” and “coquette” as she dreams of glory as an actress. She’s in her late teens, eager to be accepted in a Paris conservatory, supported by her widowed … Continue reading →

Scenic Greece, Laure Calamy, Olivia Côte and Kristen Scott Thomas is in it, speaking French? July 14.

Today’s journey Around the World with Netflix takes us to Peru, land of the Incas, the Plains of Nazca and these doggoned “¡Asu Mare!” comedies by comic, writer, actor and now director Carlos Alcántara. The films began ten years ago … Continue reading →

“Make Me Famous” is a playful documentary about the New York Lower East Side art scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s, structured as a biography and appreciation of one of the signature characters of that era. Filmmaker Brian … Continue reading →

“Past Lives” is a lovely, bittersweet reverie built on a premise that flirts with fantasy. Are we “fated” to be with who we end up loving and spending our lives with, and if we are, what happens when events conspire … Continue reading →

Treat Williams broke out in “Prince of the City,” a classic righteous officer in a sea of corrupt cops picture, shone bright in “Hair,” in dramas on screen and TV. But when I heard this active, lovely, always working spirit … Continue reading →

“The Catholic School” is a story ripped from recent Italian history, the story of a heartless kidnapping, rape and murder in an age when Italian law did not consider rape a crime against a woman, but rather against the public … Continue reading →

I’ve taken to disparaging a lot of the streaming series I’m pitched and that I get around to sampling or even reviewing as “drip drip drip” storytelling. Even the cliffhanger serials of yore, the ones that Lucas and Spielberg were … Continue reading →

This international child trafficking thriller built around “The Passion of the Christ” star opens July 4. But what’s “really” going on here? What agenda is in play? Caviezel has made films like this his cause, and he adds a little … Continue reading →

I’m hard-pressed to think of another author in the English language whose work seemed destined for “mini series” treatment than Charles Dickens. The man wrote novels in serial form. He was literally incentivized to write long. When the serialized story … Continue reading →