Monthly Archives: April 2024

If one is being perfectly candid, “good” thrillers don’t often wind up down the food chain at Vertical Releasing. But some movies are a hard sell. Many, many actors aren’t “box office,” even if they once were. This looks good. … Continue reading →

Steve McQueen got his big break in landing the lead in the late ’50s bounty hunter Western “Wanted: Dead or Alive.” And that translated into his first quality, name-recognition movie roles. He is the ostensible lead in the ensemble thriller … Continue reading →

There’s always a first. It’s often someone like American Gertude “Trudy” Ederle, someone willing to ignore “No woman can swim that far,” to fend off jellyfish and sniping Brits. “Young Woman and the Sea” Stars Ms. Daisy and co-stars Stephen … Continue reading →

The strangeness and “festival darling” nature of this mystery/coming-of-age drama gets across in this dark and magical trailer for the latest film from “We’re Going to the World’s Fair” director Jane Schoenbrun. May 3.

Today’s “Around the World with Netflix” outing takes us to snowy, remote region we outsiders used to call Lapland (Sápmi, is preferred by the locals), that treeline on the edge of the tundra in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and a bit … Continue reading →

Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is brutal, unblinking and myopic, a sour taste of what a “real” civil war in the industrialized, armed-to-the-teeth United States might look like. Garland, the thoughtful and thought-provoking auteur behind “Ex Machina,” “Annihilation” and “Men,” makes … Continue reading →

But the discerning cinephile will want to see it in IMAX . Here we go. Spoiler alert, it is Maria Menunos’ laugh that triggers the national rift that cannot be mended 

Maybe it’s just me, but strong rhymes-with-mean/rhymes-with-lecturn energy from all the trailers for this one. Or, at least a taste of “Free Guy.” I get wanting to do something for kids. Wasn’t “The Adam Project” enough? Or is Krasinski just … Continue reading →

Making any movie is like trying to paint and write, telling a story and sending a message, on the sides, roof and undercarriage of a moving train. Once that train has left the station, you’re kind of at the mercy … Continue reading →

Two couples, a “not quite right” child, and a sinister subtext. Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy are the hapless pair thrown in with McAvoy and Alex West Lifler in this version of a recent Danish film (with one couple Dutch) … Continue reading →