Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Movie Preview: Austin dreams for a “Band on the Run”

Could be fun. The trailer doesn’t ensure it. It’s a period piece — not Paul McCartney and Wings era ’70s but ’90s Detroit area grunge band hoping for a South by Southwest Fest record deal era. Freestyle picked it up. … Continue reading

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Netflixable? Marseilles-set “K.O.” Delivers a Glancing Blow

“K.O.” is a two-fisted French actioner about an ex-MMA fighter coerced into tracking down the missing son of a man he killed in the octagon. The fights are as furious as the story is ludicrous. Long review short, it’s about … Continue reading

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Documentary Review: A Back to Nature prophet tries to pass on his piece of “Paradise”

Western North Carolina has long been a home to those out-of-step with mainstream culture looking for land to settle on, and in many cases, live communally. When I covered the area for public radio stations and later newspapers, you could … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Emma and Hugh and Kate and Rickman and Austen and Ang Lee, “Sense and Sensibility” (1995)

Watching any movie with Jane Austen ties inevitably sends me back to at least one of my favorites among the films and TV series based on her works. “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” was no exception. It wouldn’t be “Emma” … Continue reading

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Netflixable? Hell hath no Fury like a Mother “Uninvited” to the Home of Her Daughter’s Killers

“Uninvited” is a Filipino revenge thriller, a slow but solid B-picture slicked up to pass for an A-feature. Vilma Santos stars as a grieving mother who sets out to avenge a student-daughter “defiled” and murdered by a mob boss, a … Continue reading

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BOX OFFICE: “Lilo & Stitch” bags one “Ballerina,” “Phoenician Scheme” cracks the Top Five

Seems to me Lionsgate has been hyping “Ballerina” for TWO Superbowl ad cycles now. The trailers and TV commercials have been omnipresent forever. They went above and beyond in their efforts to tie this into the “John Wick” universe of … Continue reading

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Movie preview: A new “Toxic Avenger?” With Elijah Wood? Tell us more

Love the topical monster metal connection set up on this B movie action comedy remake. A late August release, where naughty movies go stand on the corner at the end of the summer. Mr. E. Wood is at long last … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Willem Dafoe is “The Man in My Basement”

Disney is planning on putting this Corey Hawkins/Dafoe horror tale in a few theaters before dropping it on Hulu. Renting to Willem Dafoe seems like a rookie mistake. But cash money is cash money.

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Movie Review: A Twee Parable for the Age of the Oligarch — “The Phoenician Scheme”

When he’s “on,” Wes Anderson’s films are giddy, deadpan delights, sparkling with wit and touching in the vulnerable and comically absurd human foibles they celebrate. But when he’s “off,” brace yourself for 100 minutes of production-designed preciousness, airless laughs that … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Pull your punches, Tiny Dancer — “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina”

Lionsgate has spent a couple of years making damned sure we knew their “Ballerina” Ana de Armas action vehicle was a John Wick spinoff. All those trailers and commercials, hyping this thing — that cumbersome to the point of desperate … Continue reading

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