Monthly Archives: July 2023

“Hidden Strike” is a bad movie that’s easy to endorse. A buddy comedy co-starring the master of the genre, Jackie Chan, here paired with that jock joker John Cena, it’s action for those who like their cheese paired with some … Continue reading →

File “Natty Knocks” under that broad horror film rubric “I’ve seen worse.” It’s basically a screenwriting exercise, “Write another ‘Halloween’ without inviting a copyright infringement claim.” That makes for an unsurprising trek through suburbia in a Town With a Dark … Continue reading →

Many of us dream of making that “escape to the country,” finding a pastoral piece of rural wherever to get away from it all, get back to the land and experience a little peace. But what did Sartre warn us? … Continue reading →

Dublin’s North Circular Road isn’t anything the casual tourist might pick up on, even upon glancing at a map when visiting the city. It’s not a North American idea of what such a name might imply — an interstate loop … Continue reading →

The look is as lurid as black and white cinematography ever got, New York after dark “Photographed,” the title tells us, in a novel way of giving credit, by the great “James Wong Howe.” The music is jazz at its … Continue reading →

Writer-director Greg Pritikin’s “The Mistress” is a slick and servicable if somewhat unsurprising thriller about traumas newlyweds unearth and unleash when they move into a gorgeous old Queen Anne house in LA’s Angelino Heights corner of Echo Park. Pritikin apparently … Continue reading →

Let’s get the words “ragtag team” and “feel-good” and “uplifting” out right at the beginning of a dissection of the Korean soccer comedy, “Dream.” Because you know if it’s an underdog sports comedy, all of those words apply, at least … Continue reading →

Oh to be a tweenage girl with access to Disney+ this weekend. “The Slumber Party” is a brisk, breezy and often-amusing riff on that old fashioned teen and pre-teen ritual, the last sleepover of summer. Well-cast, with some properly snarky … Continue reading →

Fans of the famed Disney “Haunted Mansion” will pick up on all sorts of easter eggs and visual nods to the theme park attraction — sets, gimmicks, props, etc. — in the new film based on a beloved piece of … Continue reading →

The great character actor Ron Perlman has his best big screen role in many years in “The Baker,” a thoroughly satisfying two-fisted B-movie carved out of classics of the genre and carried on the broad, brooding shoulders of “The Perl.” … Continue reading →