Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Movie Review: Wahlberg and Hauser go “Balls Up” in Brazil

The latest Peter Farrelly of The Farrelly Bros. comedy is a tale of condoms, testicular protection, the South American cocaine trade, the World Cup and two doofuses who find one “fine mess” after another to get themselves into. “Balls Up” … Continue reading

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Documentary Review: Fallopian Furies Fondly Remembered — “Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks”

A fun and furious phenomenon of the ’90s New York punk scene is given its due and another faint glimpse of the spotlight in “Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks,” a wry, wizened and not remotely bitter doc about … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Mayhem and Murder and the Japanese Mafia Greet Odenkirk in “Normal,” Minnesota

What a time to be alive and a witness to Bob Odenkirk, the Badass Years. The “Mr. Show” alumnus and ex-“Saturday Night Live” writer, a bit player on every sitcom from “Seinfeld” to “How I Met Your Mother” tapped into … Continue reading

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Series Review: More Fun with Dysfunction with Dan Levy — “Big Mistakes”

Dysfunction Junction is somewhere in the career-criminal packed suburbs of northern New Jersey in Dan Levy and Rachel Sennott’s “Big Mistakes,” a harder-edged, over-plotted way of covering the same ground as “Schitt’s Creek,” with little of the charm. Bingeing this … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: A Timeless, Topical, Dated and Dizzy Debacle — “Rosebud” (1975)

One of the most formative books from my movie fanatic youth was Theodore Gershuny’s “Soon to be a Major Motion Picture: The Anatomy of an All-Star, Big-Budget Multi-Million Dollar Disaster.” Gershuny’s on-set/in-the-studio observation of the making of Otto Preminger’s greatest … Continue reading

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Series Review: This “Young Sherlock” is Besties with Moriarty

He can see it all more clearly in his mind, dissecting every detail, stopping the flow of past events to analyze what might have happened or what he might have done about it. A tragedy of his youth, a covert … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Extorting Keanu? What “Outcome” can We Expect?

Perhaps the reason Keanu Reeves doesn’t quite grasp the tone in Jonah Hill’s Hollywood star in crisis over a scandal “comedy” “Outcome” is that director, co-writer and co-star Hill didn’t make what he was going for clear. Maybe Hill didn’t … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Everybody Upstages Halle in “You, Me & Tuscany”

“You, Me & Tuscany” is a featherweight romance with a pretty cast, lovely scenery, fabulous food and just a hint of charm under all the cliches. It’s a Hallmark Lite rom-com built around live-action “Little Mermaid” star Halle Bailey, who … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Russell Crowe Neither Trains nor Tames this “Beast”

The hard-luck brawler of the Aussie mixed-martial arts thriller “Beast” finds himself working for next to nothing on a Sydney harbor trawler at his low point in the movie. He’s a “Jonah,” his jerk skipper insists. Bad luck. No “fish” … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Olivier guides Lauren and Bogie into “A Little Romance” (1979)

There was critical blowback that rather spoiled the welcome of George Roy Hill’s last classic of the ’70s. Then again, the director of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting” and “Slap Shot” was never what we’d call “a … Continue reading

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