Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

The season’s biggest hit adds another $50 million, and Zazie Beetz can’t beat the horror audience out of its stupor, as the last weekend of March spring breaks to an end. “Project Hail Mary” is doing robust business, and even … Continue reading →

The American cinema of the ’70s is justly celebrated for daring and intellectually challenging film, cynical cinema that pointed the camera at urban and rural decay. The skepticism of the “Hud” and “Midnight Cowboy” 1960s curdled into grim portraits of … Continue reading →

“Refuge” is a frankly stupid and formulaic “whodunit” wrapped in torture, retribution and guilt from all the dirty secrets men keep. Four friends since high school head off to a hunting/fishing cabin in the woods, rounded-up and driven there by … Continue reading →

“Watching Mr. Pearson” is an indie outing with “Sunset Boulevard” as its original mailing address. A drama about an aged actor lost in his old roles, with two caregivers indulging his “harmless” dementia and acting out his old scripts with … Continue reading →

Magical realism curdles into magical futurism in “The Blue Trail,” a parable about the hell of growing old in a society that claims to worship the elderly, but which reallys wants them warehoused and out of the way. Amazingly, this … Continue reading →

The Brits may have popularized the feminine fury as assassin/secret agent via the James Bond films and the Diana Rigg-led “Avengers” on TV. World cinema — from America to Asia — took inspiration from that. But it was the French, … Continue reading →

Ryan Gosling & Co. have given Amazon/MGM its best opening weekend ever, as “Project Hail Mary” is already a blockbuster. It did $12 million Thursday night and added another $19 Friday for a sizzling $33 million “opening day.” That put … Continue reading →

And now for something for those who like their comic horror thrillers to deliver “more of the same, please.” “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” takes us deeper into the worst “marry money” mistake of a young blonde’s life. … Continue reading →

His misses are so rare between his many hits that we don’t think of Ryan Gosling as ever taking an errant step on his rise ro stardom. But a “Gangster Squad,” “Song to Song” or “The Gray Man” turns up … Continue reading →

I am at a loss when trying to come up with an Oscar nominated short film that I’ve ever felt was unworthy of being in the field. Something about the process of submission, how seriously those who vote to winnow … Continue reading →