Monthly Archives: February 2024

You can see the seeds of a decent modern day Western in “The Stolen Valley,” a thriller about Native American land theft, vanishing heritage, blood ties and the Old West delusions of Southwestern gun culture. First-time writer-director Jesse Edwards’ script … Continue reading →

With its long pre-production process and almost as long release schedule, cinema has never been the most deft medium at surfing the tides of pop culture. Trends bubble up or explode, and like a time-delayed bomb, movies get hold of … Continue reading →

Cute enough, I guess. No, I don’t refer to The Super Bowl as “The Big Game.” The National Concussion League can go suck it. Ryan Reynolds and Randall Park promote the preview showing during the final game of the endless … Continue reading →

“RedLife” is a grimly immersive, relentlessly downbeat Thai melodrama that stumbles among the down-and-out crowd of Bangkok’s underbelly. Sex workers and thieves dream small — starting a life as a couple, getting a “real job,” a single mom simply hoping … Continue reading →

As horror movies that weave “Scream” and “Dead Zone” plot points and gimmicks with high school homophobia and staring it down go, “Departing Seniors” parks itself squarely in “I’ve seen worse.” Grace notes about sexuality, blunt treatments of bullying and … Continue reading →

One doesn’t get a sense that enough was spent on hiring a tasty mob-connected villain for this Feb. 23 release. But the setting and the set-up have time-proven potential. The tone of “The Bad Shepherd” seems just right. Money’s power … Continue reading →

There are a lot of reasons seasoned critics and cinephiles still hold onto the 1970s as Hollywood’s true “Golden Age.” They’re the touchstone decade built on a string of benchmark classics which we rightly measure all the films that followed … Continue reading →

“Popular Theory” is a limp effort to reclaim the comic possibilities of “child genius” from TV (“Young Sheldon”) that makes one wish they’d just left this genre to the boob tube. It’s about a high school upperclasswoman who is all … Continue reading →

Sequel to a viral “Winnie’s in the public domain, let’s do a horror riff on it” straight-to-video production. No word on the release date for this bloody-minded bear yet.

The late historian David McCullough told me something once in an interview that I’ve applied to most every historical drama I’ve reviewed ever since. “The people living through” historical events, McCullough noted, “don’t know how any of this will turn … Continue reading →