Monthly Archives: January 2026

We remember the boy. Going on seventy years since “The 400 Blows” arrived on screens, one is still hard-pressed to think of a better performance by a child in a film. James Dean and Jean-Paul Belmondo defined “rebellious youth” on … Continue reading →

Amazon tacked the incorrect release date (2024) onto this scurvy dog (2017) which is why I watched it. That, and the sailboating subject matter. There’s not much to recommend “The Boat Builder” beyond Christopher Lloyd almost colorfully playing a widowed … Continue reading →

The title of the touring exhibition “Giants,” featuring works by Gordon Parks and Jean-Michel Basquit, is a pun. The musical power couple Alicia Keyes and Swizz Beatz have collected works by those familiar names in art history — “Giants.” And, … Continue reading →

Actors have an old saying. If you’re not getting work, create work for yourself. Career bit player Alexi Wasser takes that advice with “Messy,” a comedy about a single thirtysomething sexing her way through many Mister Wrongs in a hunt … Continue reading →

“The Rip” starts out bloody and gets bloodier. The dirty cops and drug money plot is messy. And turns messier. It hits “preachy” hard, and then becomes even preachier. The copshop cliches, quips and acronyms pass by in a blizzard … Continue reading →

Artists who make their mark on the world are the ones who dare to experiment, who take big chances in the belief that they can show us something new. Werner Herzog’s “Heart of Glass” was such an experiment, a hypnotic … Continue reading →

Every year or so I am moved — by WordPress’s lack of movement to fix glitches or eagerness to make an almost unending series of changes for the worse — to point out this Automatic blog provider’s unsuitability, if you’re … Continue reading →

Whatever is going on around her and whoever else is in the overripe Netflix murder mystery “His & Hers,” Marin Ireland is the one who gets it. The latest project from the director of the feature film “Lady Macbeth” is … Continue reading →

If you see enough movies, attend enough plays and make it through enough literature, you earn the license to say you’ve “seen’em all.” There are only so many basic plots, with a vast but still finite number of variations on … Continue reading →

One of the pleasures of youth is experiencing the stages and phases and Big Moments of life for the first time. And one of the indulgences of being pre-“thirtysomething” is the feeling that you’re “discovering” or reinventing things earlier generations … Continue reading →