Monthly Archives: April 2024

Few live action comedies mimic the lurid comic book style of Japanese manga as accurately or amusingly as “City Hunter,” a gonzo beat-em-up/shoot-em-up knife-fight riot based on the comic by Tsukasa Hôjô. “Kasane” director Yûichi Satô, action choreographer Takashi Tanimoto … Continue reading →

There isn’t much that would recommend “Scandal” to a cinephile who isn’t trying to finish off The Complete Works of Akira Kurosawa. It’s a sentimental, maudlin melodrama with comical flourishes, not as ambitious or epic as the director’s best work. … Continue reading →

Those “prisoners” supernaturally imprisoned in human bodies, bouncing between the distant past and the Korean present as “Alienoids” are back. “Alienoid: Return to the Future” is, if anything, even harder to follow than “Alienoid.” But plainly “following” whatever the hell … Continue reading →

“I Am Gitmo” is an earnest attempt at bringing the Guantanamo Bay inmates’ story — foreign nationals accused of terrorism, held and tortured for years, with no trials or hope of release — back to the headlines. It’s a downbeat, … Continue reading →

Even that curmudgeon Frank Oz gets a little emotional here. May 31.  Disney plus remembers Jim Henson.

“Hard Miles” is a sweet, unassuming and generally unsurprising dramedy about changing lives via cycling and seeing The Grand Canyon. This “inspired by” a true story stars Matthew Modine as a social worker/counselor who hits on the idea that his … Continue reading →

“Challengers” is a sleek and sometimes sexy “Jules and Jim” menage a trois set in the world of professional tennis. The (digitally augmented) tennis is quite good, the romantic entanglements sophisticated and the story narrowly-focused on our three leads in … Continue reading →

Whatever their shifting status in the minds of the public — and school children forced to study them –the best proof of Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens’ enduring popularity is their durability on the silver screen. Every few decades, each of … Continue reading →

The chief appeal of a “Calendar Girls,” “Poms,” or “80 for Brady” movie is the chance to see venerable and venerated film stars taking themselves on a trip down memory lane, and us along with them. Such movies are an … Continue reading →

“Blueberry” is a drab indie “film festival movie” about a young gay woman who meets someone who might get her out of BFE, Indiana, and the conflict this creates with her sister, who sees the newcomer as a bad influence. … Continue reading →