Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Documentary filmmaker Louis Schwartzeberg, of DisneyNature’s “Wings of Life,” didn’t need to add “The Magic Beneath Us” to the title of his “Fantastic Fungi.” We were already thinking, “Oh, it’s a magic mushroom movie.” He might as well have titled … Continue reading →

In “Entangled,” we can size up Marin, played by Ana Girardot, by what we see and hear. Or we can let “what happened to me” make up our minds for us. What happened to her was a miscarriage. “It hurts,” … Continue reading →

You may think you know Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar-winning star of “Twelve Years a Slave” and “Us.” But you haven’t seen her at her funniest, fiestiest and sweetest until you’ve plunged into the comic horrors of “Little Monsters.” As kindergarten teacher … Continue reading →

“Lady-Like” is the kind of cute-coeds-act-coarse comedy that calls for us to revive a word that isn’t used enough these days. “Blowsy.” That’s the best six-letter description of anti-heroine Allie (Stephanie Simbari of “Coldwater”). Park her character somewhere below “trollop,” … Continue reading →

Marin Ireland’s been a busy bee in the 15 years since she broke into film — “Hell or High Water” and “Sneaky Pete” are a couple of highlights on her resume. Interesting that Jim Gaffigan’s agent is landing him all … Continue reading →

No matter what obsessed fans think, sequels have to stand-alone as films, stories that work in their own right. Relying on everybody seeing your new movie having seen the original film simply isn’t cricket. That goes for every “Mad Max,” … Continue reading →

The reason you stay through to the closing credits when reviewing a film is basic movie-reviewing ethics. It’s a rule. Here’s another one. Never let a rom-com’s touching if obvious ending change your mind about the 90 minutes that preceded … Continue reading →

This is the one that showed at New York Comic Con. Aged favorites back on CBS All Access Jan. 23. I was never a fan of this series, but Patrick Stewart seemed to me criminally under-employed by Hollywood and British … Continue reading →

Critics with an uncommon affection for alliteration find movies like “House of the Witch” an embarrassment of riches. It’s not that this haunted house tale is good, although it is perfectly watchable, in an empty-headed, empty-calories sort of way. It’s … Continue reading →

We can look away from Syria. We have that option. But for those trapped there, in the civil war that’s devolved into a murderous campaign of government reprisals, “There is no way out.” Filmmaker  Feras Fayyad (“Last Men in Aleppo”) … Continue reading →