Monthly Archives: September 2024

The dialogue has a metallic tang and the smell of a just-fired revolver about it in “Rebel Ridge,” an “In the Heat of the Night” style tale of Southern justice in the golden age of “cash forfeiture.” Lines like “Just … Continue reading →

J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle, Willem Dafoe as the voice of Network doom, and Jason Reitman’s survey of how the hot mess that was and is “SNL” first made it on the air serves up players — Gilda and Jane … Continue reading →

So there’s a “Green Man” killer stalking the Plains in one of the great disasters in American history. “Slender Man” meets Ken Burns’ worst documentary nightmare. A mother tries to protect her children from the fatal choice to move to … Continue reading →

“Before Dawn” is a World War I saga as uninventive as its title, a flat recreation of the trenches of France and the young men who fought there that adds nothing to the extensive canon of films documenting “The Great … Continue reading →

Over fifty years after its release, Carl Reiner’s cult comedy “Where’s Poppa?” has lost some of its transgressive edge, but not a bit of its ability to make you cringe. A dark 1970 comedy about Jewish sons and Jewish mommas, … Continue reading →

This road trip drama stars Philip Ettinger as the troubled sibling brother Jake (Daniel Diemer) must “evaluate” on the drive back to their demanding or perhaps understanding and wise father (J.K. Simmons). Might Mom (Polly Draper) have a say in … Continue reading →

That’s the good news. “Winner,” starring Emilia Jones as , Zach Galifianakis and Connie Britton, played at Sundance and other festivals this year. Winner, you should recall, was an NSA translator thrown into prison for leaking information about how much … Continue reading →

“The Paragon” is one of those indie film festival darlings that seems to come out of nowhere, with its budget a big part of its legend. Movies from “El Mariachi” and “Clerks” to “Slackers” “The Blair Witch Project” and “Tangerine” … Continue reading →

This major studio reboot — part of Universal’s horror brand and legacy — has attracted a lot of horror genre talent. The cast (Christopher Abbott has the title role) is lesser known. But Leigh Whannel (“The Invisible Man”) directs, so … Continue reading →

It begins, as many indie thrillers do, with great promise. There’s a complicated lead character — wife by day, leather cover-band singer and sex-in-the-club-bathrooms rocker by night, air traffic controller later each night. I know. But stay with me. Pleeeaaase! … Continue reading →