Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Slick, silly and production-designed to death, “Jewel Thief” is a Netflix franchise starter that’s cartoonish enough to be a non-starter. “The Heist Begins” is about an all-knowing, infallible thief (Saif Ali Khan) blackmailed into stealing a nine-year-old’s idea of what … Continue reading →

Animation director Vincent Parannaud did the adult and masterful “Persepolis,” one of the best animated films of the new millenium. Here, he’s aiming for a younger demo with a visually arresting tale of a child lost in enchanted woods, trying … Continue reading →

Ferzan Özpetek, director of “Loose Cannons” and the recent Netflix romance “Nuovo Olimpo” rounded up a lot of famous Italian actresses for this movie about movie making — making a ’70s period piece and obsessing about what the ladies will … Continue reading →

Kazuya Shiraishi’s “11 Rebels” is an often entertaining Samurai thriller that wallows in the conventions and tropes of the genre. The conventions of Samurai thrillers and American Westerns cross-polinated so long ago that it’s hard to remember which culture’s action … Continue reading →

A creepy missing son indie thriller that Paramount/Republic picked up, this one rolls out June 20.

She’s “mad,” quite mad — articulate, but unfiltered, with few acquired life skills and few options and “Taming of the Shrew” furious over that. He’s the village or neighborhood “idiot,” who “got turned down” by every possible bride he asked, … Continue reading →

Brit ventriloquist Nina Conti directed and stars — in the fuzzy monkey suit — this dark rom com about grief and connection. “Presented by Christopher Guest” carries some weight, as this feels twee and so far off the wall as … Continue reading →

You’d think a lot of distributors wouldn’t dare open their film against the last Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” outing this weekend. You’d be right. But “The Last Rodeo” is opening as counter programming. And our friends at Magnolia are offering … Continue reading →

“Breathless” didn’t start the cinema and world pop culture’s youth movement. It didn’t launch the French “New Wave” that brought Jean-Luc Godard, Truffaut and others to fame and glory as they upended cinema conventions back in 1959. But Richard Linklater … Continue reading →