Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

As I was one of the first to pan the latest “Star Wars” film in the J.J. Abrams’ universe, “The Last Jedi,” comments on my review have revealed what seems to be a healthy level of discontent on this (thanks … Continue reading →

The German sculptor, conceptual artist and performance artist Joseph Beuys once secured Japanese funding and legions of volunteers to help him plant “7000 Oaks,” each with a rough-hewn basalt obelisk at its base, in Kassel, Germany. He wanted to contrast … Continue reading →

You think about Alexander Payne’s other films, comic satires, a lot during “Downsizing.” You remember the political parody “Election,” the hot-button abortion comedy “Citizen Ruth,” the wine snob pretensions of “Sideways” and the pleasures of “The Descendants,” “Nebraska” and “About … Continue reading →

We used to call them “triple threats,” these wonders who walked among us. They could sing, dance and act, and do each equally well. Gene and Debbie are gone, Shirley and Rita pretty much done with hoofing it. But Hugh … Continue reading →

First thing that made me laugh here was Anne Hathaway playing around with her hated image. Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t available? Bullock’s deadpan is as solid as ever, as is her obsession/vanity over her hair. Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter and … Continue reading →

Harry Truman once said that “The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.” And in our inter-connected, up-to-the-moment, instant-gratification seeking culture, what we “do not know” seems to grow by the hour. As necessary … Continue reading →

From the instant he appears, in the flash of a match in an unlit room as he lights his cigar in bed, we forget Gary Oldman is playing a part. He transforms into Winston Churchill, the bulldog face and jowly … Continue reading →

You’d think the guy who finally freed himself of Middle Earth would want to cut loose, maybe do that “Dam Busters” remake he’s talked about. But no. Peter Jackson’s got “Mortal Engines” on his mind. He wrote the script,produced and … Continue reading →

It’s no stretch to think of the rawboned character actor John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”) as an unrepentant alcoholic, and the sort of man who’d bring that up in a job interview. That’s how we meet … Continue reading →

You could cast other actors. ut if the role you’re filling calls for a coiled-spring of psychosis, generating dread as we know this guy is going to awaken one day, having dozed off watching porn on his work computer, and … Continue reading →