Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

A decent Thursday night and solid Friday suggest that Zendaya’s star vehicle “Challengers” will own this weekend at the box office, pulling in as much as $15 million on its opening bow. Sophisticated and edgy, the latest from the director … Continue reading →

“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 →

For me, Zendaya’s screen stardom has always been something just in the offing. She’s gotten roles in big films since “The Greatest Showman.” They offered her the chance to make a mark in subordinate, supporting parts as “Spider Man’s” squeeze, … Continue reading →

Horror movies are, as John Carpenter once broke down for me, a teachable series of practical effects and learnable basic knowledge of human psychology. So sure, somebody who is the child of a famous director who is still a big … 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 →

Sterling Brown and Mark Strong are among the co-stars in this topical, FX-laden but possibly empty-headed actioner slated for release on Netflix May 24. It looks slick and really dumb.

“Boy Kills World” is a gonzo, video-game-violent/splatter-film-bloody “Hunger Games” for fanboys. It is “Oldboy” meets “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” pandering and slaughtering in equal measure, a movie with jaunty, genre-spoofing possibilities that descend into into lethargy and wind-up in … Continue reading →