Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

“Root Letter” is an indie murder mystery about a missing pen pal, a film based on a Japanese video game. It’s a slow, sloppily-structured exercise in tedium that is simple yet hard to follow, short but interminable thanks to leaden … Continue reading →

Whatever the stylistic charms of Olivier Bourdeaut’s acclaimed novel, the film version of “Waiting for Bojangles (En attendant Bojangles)” offers further proof that “manic pixie dream girls” exist in France, and not just in the person of Audrey “Amelie” Tautou. … Continue reading →

Three friends struggle with a past that could cripple their future in this film, written directed by and starring Ty Gordon. If you’ve never heard of Gordon, or seen “Harm” or “Obscura,” you’re not alone. Sept. 30 this Film Arcade … Continue reading →

“Burial” is a clunky but somewhat engrossing WWII “quest” thriller about Adolf Hitler’s body. British B-movie writer-director Ben Parker (“The Chamber”) conjures up a fanciful version of what happened to that corpse when the Russians got their hands on it. … Continue reading →

There’s no mistaking the look of a Fritz Lang film, especially the dark, soundstage-bound productions, with their elaborate arrangement of light, shadows and faces in the compositions. But “Ministry of Fear,” his film of Seton I. Miller’s adaptation of a … Continue reading →

Finn Jones, Jessica McNamee, Dana Rhodes and Donna Briscoe star in this Oct. 7 release from Blumhouse, Paramount and Epix, going straight to ye olde streaming video.

“Blind Ambition” is a simple, straightforward non-fiction film about what we journalists call a “man bites dog” story. It’s about something wholly unexpected and unusual, odd and cute. We meet a quartet of Zimbabwean refugees who fled hardship to South … Continue reading →

This BBC/Amazon Studios production features Chaske Spencer, Rafe Spall, Toby Jones, Stephen Rea and Ciaran Hinds in supporting roles. Filmed in Oklahoma, six episodes worth, which is a good thing.

Close your eyes and you can pretty much imagine the full “package” of a movie that would make its premiere on Comedy Central. It’d be derivative — familiar and “new” at the same time. Maybe update “The Office” for the … Continue reading →