Monthly Archives: February 2024

“Upgraded” is an almost-frothy rom-com built on a “Devil Wears Prada” framework. A plucky intern at an auction house deals with a tyrannical boss and a new love on a trip to London where she tries to make it in … Continue reading →

There’s no reinventing the wheel when it comes to movies about addiction. We’re all familiar with the “steps” in screenplays that mimic “stages of grief” more than AA’s famous “twelve steps.” Loved ones are tested and abused, impulses are indulged, … Continue reading →

Scripted by committee, performed in a nearly-indecipherable Jamaican patois and overseen by his legacy-protecting son Ziggy Marley, you knew the Bob Marley biopic “One Love” was going to have its problems and fall short of the mark in some important … Continue reading →

Impressive effects and a general light-hearted tone give “Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman,” a Korean sword, sorcery and ghost-busting action comedy, a fighting chance. It doesn’t quite come off as it cannot avoid the trap of so many comic … Continue reading →

Cynthia Erivo is the witch Elphaba, Arianna Grande is Glinda the “Good Witch,” with Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum. No Dorothys are necessary in this version of Mr. Baum’s Oz, remember. Jon M. Chu of “In the Heights” and “Crazy … Continue reading →

“Ashes” is a slick and sleek Turkish thriller about a woman who falls in love with an unpublished book, a romance based in reality but enveloped in romance novel fantasy. The latest from filmmaker Erdem Tepegöz (“In the Shadows”) begins … Continue reading →

Your short flight from LAX to Cabo San Lucas goes down. Way down. You’re trapped in an air pocket in the fuselage some distance below the surface. There are sharks outside, a limited air supply inside, and help may or … Continue reading →

July 26. Angus MacFadyen classes up this tale of “Marvel Jesus.” Looks fun, and yeah they’re out of ideas.

A Climate Changed, specially effected reboot of 1996’s “Twister.” That Glen Powell (“Maverick,” “Anyone But You”) is having himself a moment. With Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sasha Lane, Anthony Ramos, Katy O’Brian, Maura Tierney and Kiernan Shipka. Riding the wind and its … Continue reading →

Alfred Hitchcock’s peak years were the 1950s, when he was utter master of his craft and he was privileged to make use of Hollywood’s best and brightest with the budgets to do them all justice. From “Stage Fright” and “Strangers … Continue reading →