Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

The Stephen King horror brand may be well established with a generation of filmmakers and especially Hollywood decision makers. But audiences? They’re living in the “Annabelle/Conjuring/Amityville/Insidious” universe. New Line’s inexpensive, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink is haunted (that’s the NEXT movie) “Annabelle: Creation” is … Continue reading →

Long after her death, decades removed from the days when she was a brand-name novelist, famed for dark, romantic thrillers, Daphne du Maurier remains a Hollywood favorite. “My Cousin Rachel” — remade and unleashed just this summer — delivered a … Continue reading →

    “The Glass Castle,” the film biography based on one-time gossip columnist Jeannette Walls’ memoir, is just dissonant enough to feel as if it’s from another era — an era when we knew “shame.” You know, back before we … Continue reading →

Robert Pattinson has his best role since he wiped off the “Twilight” glitter in as a stumbling, bumbling thief hurtling toward his fate in the ironically titled “Good Time.” It’s a story of two brothers — developmentally-disabled Nick, played as … Continue reading →

The violence in “Wind River” will take your breath away. As it should. We’ve become so inured to it — in the movies and on TV — that we forget the shock that accompanies it. We don’t know how loud … Continue reading →

The dire state of animation screenwriting, made plain by a summer of “Cars 3,” “Despicable Me 3” and worse (“The Emoji Movie”) is pounded into stone by “The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature.” Even the year’s funniest cartoons — … Continue reading →

“Dave Made a Maze” is the most jaw-droppingly original movie of 2017, a delirious and deliberate act of DIY whimsy in the Terry Gilliam style. It cannot possibly have been as cheap to make as it looks. The sets are … Continue reading →

“Annabelle: Creation” back-engineers the tale of the demonically possessed doll — the latest version of a demonically possessed doll — into an origin story that is a veritable grab-bag of terror. The director of the simpler and superior “Lights Out” … Continue reading →

  It’s due in theaters in five weeks. It has a prestige director — Darren Aronofsky — and Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Ed Harris. And a VERY “Rosemary’s Baby” vibe. So they held … Continue reading →

Pretty, perky perpetual girlfriend/best friend/second banana Lake Bell makes her second trip behind the feature film camera with a self-written comedy about marriage, “I Do…Until I Don’t.” It lacks the goofy novelty of “In a World…,” which was set in … Continue reading →