Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

“American Made” is the best-reviewed Tom Cruise movie in ages, a crackling, witty drug trade docudrama about a hot shot pilot who gets himself in the middle of the Iran/Contra Scandal, and Reagan Administration extra-legal shenanigans that flooded the country … Continue reading →

There is an Orlando that exists in the very shadow of the theme parks that make the city America’s Vacationland. It’s the Orlando of the young service-sector poor, transients — many with children. They wait on the tourists, clean their … Continue reading →

Oscar bait? To be sure. Gary Oldman goes for spot-on impersonation of the English bulldog who led Britain through World War II, with Kristen Scott-Thomas as Lady Churchill and the omnipresent Ben Mendelsohn as the King George of “The King’s … Continue reading →

Two well-heeled strangers, trapped in Idaho before a blizzard hits, charter a plane to Denver. It goes down in the Rocky Mountain wilderness and they’re forced to depend on each other, blend clashing personalities, to survive. That’s the premise of … Continue reading →

This was a pretty notorious kidnapping case when it happened back in 1973. A Getty grandson nabbed, the kid’s mother is “not a real Getty” and the Patriarch (Kevin Spacey) isn’t likely to pay ransom. Ridley Scott directed, with Michelle … Continue reading →

Ok, that’s a mean headline, and this IS a Noah Baumbach film. And with that cast, it could be funny. Netflix aims considerably higher in its “Let’s Be in the Adam Sandler Business” strategy with “The Meyerwitz Stories.” Not really … Continue reading →

Granted, Owen Wilson’s been in the rear view mirror for a decade, and Ed Helms’ window to stardom was a pretty narrow one. But Glenn Close as a randy mom from “the ’70s, man,” and Christopher Walken, Ving Rhames, J.K. … Continue reading →

In America, we chart the sea changes in our culture through sport. Seminal figures from Jackie to Fernando, Babe to Althea, signal to us that our world is different or, in some cases, make it different all on their own. … Continue reading →

Another sci-fi best seller — this one by Jeff VanderMeer — earns a big screen treatment, this time courtesy of Alex “Ex Machina” Garland. “Annihilation” gives us an alien entity that doesn’t look like, oh, Klingons or Borg or humans … Continue reading →

“I’m not psychic,” our young narrator reassures us. She’s just a near-savant at guessing numbers, cards, the right slot machine to toss a quarter into. That’s a skill even a tween can use in Reno, Nevada. Maybe she got it … Continue reading →