Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

The choreography by Ashley Wallen sparkles and dazzles. Madelen Mills, Anika Noni Rose, Ricky Martin and Lisa Davina Phillip sing, but so do Forest Whitaker and Keegan-Michael Key — who sings the villain’s show-stopper, “Magic Man G.” The settings are … Continue reading →

The largest museum of contemporary art in the world, acres and acres in size, was opened in a dying industrial town in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. MASS MoCa was the most “out there” and yet doable pitch thrown at … Continue reading →

We always knew how Bruce Willis would spend his celebrity dotage — Shakespeare in the Park, maybe a spirited farewell tour as “Bruno” with his band. OK, maybe we didn’t. But seeing him in — BARELY in — C-movies like … Continue reading →

For my money, the best action picture on Netflix right now is a grim combat thriller set in the bombed-out ruins of the Iraqi city, “Mosul.” It’s an intimate “Blackhawk Down” meets “Saving Private Ryan” tale of a mission and … Continue reading →

A friend pointed me to an Internet appreciation of this “lost” 1972 Terrence Malick-scripted road comedy, a movie partially-filmed in a city where I used to live — Knoxville, Tennessee. “Deadhead Miles” is a loosely-organized, largely-improvised long-haul trucking tale that … Continue reading →

“Everything is copy,” the late novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker Nora Ephron preached. Anything that happens to you or someone you know, everything that you overhear — fair game for a creative person. Especially one who’s “blocked.” That might describe Allison, … Continue reading →

Netflix has this cute, woke activist Ryan Murphy musical comedy.

Sometimes, you have to wonder if anybody in Netflix acquisitions even bothers to look over a lot of the junk they buy. Sometimes, you realize that content providers know this and slide quick-and-junky projects in under the door that way. … Continue reading →

He’s pretty, she’s prettier, a gorgeous under-filmed Pacific isle location, a true story about a tradition of service members doing humanitarian work — “Operation Christmas Drop” has all the ingredients of a lightweight Christmas romance of the “fun for the … Continue reading →

“Just What We Wanted” is a compact and quietly compelling German drama about a couple teetering towards a break-up because of their desperate desire to have a child. Ulrike Kofler’s film, based on a Peter Stamm short story, wrestles with … Continue reading →