Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Former photojournalist and cinematographer Liam Le Guillou brings a lot of Werner Herzog drama and breathless, narrated suspense to his feature documentary debut, “An Unknown Compelling Force.” “Nature calls the shots out here,” he emphasizes, speaking of the snowy Ural … Continue reading →

Like the Italian footballer who is its subject, “Baggio: The Divine Ponytail” leaves one feeling unsatisfied, as if we’ve seen a life and a movie that are incomplete. A biography of one of Italy’s most beloved soccer stars, but one … Continue reading →

Pity the fools who can’t appreciate the magnificent mayhem of “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard,” the screaming, bustierre-busting glories of Salma Unleashed. Whatever middling “charms” the carnage-packed caper “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” wrung out of pairing up Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. … Continue reading →

Texas filmmaker Ty Roberts, whose “The Iron Orchard” was a period piece about the post-Depression Era boom in the Texas oil industry, takes on another piece of Texas lore with “12 Mighty Orphans,” about a scrappy, undersized football team of … Continue reading →

A thriller with “realistic” zombies is the smart premise behind “Awake.” If you want to see human beings turn into the walking dead, take away their sleep. Exhaustion heaped on top of panic, the shakes, impaired judgment teetering into psychosis, … Continue reading →

Maryam has decided to run for office, a position on the municipal council in her suburban town. But her widowed father isn’t having it. And he’s trotting out his catch-phrase for everything to do with her campaigning for this office. … Continue reading →

So what sort of gonzo nonsense have Antoine Fuqua and Mark Wahlberg cooked up now? “Infinite” is about humans who wander the Earth, “gifted with a memory of all their past lives.” Wahlberg plays an “Infinite” who has forgotten his. … Continue reading →

“Upheaval: The Life and Journey of Menachem Begin” is an adoring profile of the combative right wing Israeli prime minister who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for courageously negotiating the Camp David Accords, ending decades … Continue reading →

Embracing, immersive and inclusive, the Tony winning “In the Heights,” the musical that launched Lin-Manuel Miranda as a phenomenon, comes to the screen with its Broadway charms more or less intact. Jon M. Chu’s film has a little pathos and … Continue reading →

Netflix is calling the film “The Girl and the Gun.” But the Filipino title is “Babae at Baril,” which my translator says is “Women and Guns.” Either way, you get the idea. Writer-director Rae Red (“Neomanila” was hers) sets us … Continue reading →