Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Movie Review: Ambitious “Sinners” fails to transcend genre

“Black Panther,” “Creed” and “Fruitvale Station” director Ryan Coogler sets his sights on horror with “Sinners,” a sprawling Depression Era tale of race, religion and “The Devil’s Music,” the blues. Coogler immerses us in the early ’30s South where a … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Animating a footware farce about talking “Sneaks” turns out as you’d expect

The last thing you want to sense in an animated movie for children is cynicism, filmmakers and financiers who make no effort to hide their desire to turn over an easy buck by selling something to kids. The “Space Jam” … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “A Wedding Banquet” remake shows us Just How Far We’ve Come

More charming than amusing, chosing sentiment over “edge,” the Andrew Ahn remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 queer cinema classic “The Wedding Banquet” gives the viewer time to reflect on just how much American and world culture have changed in the … Continue reading

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Man, is “Sneaks” trippy, or what?

A kiddie comedy about that special pair of sneakers who carry a young baller’s dream, separated by “The Collector,” with one Sneaker seeking his mate… You’d expect to hear the voice of Martin Lawrence in it, but Anthony Mackie and … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: “Wicked: For Good,” aka “Wicked 2”

Had the mood of of the audience and indeed the country changed since “Wicked One” opened last fall? Whatever cheery optimism the overproduced blockbuster engendered is going to find a steeper hill to climb when this “Wicked” this way comes … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Cobie Smulders and Ben Foster live on a “Sharp Corner”

Foster plays a man obsessed with saving drivers from themselves as they try to take the intersection where he lives at dangerous speeds. Smulders is the wife trapped in this obsession. This thriller drops April 23.

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Movie Preview: An action pic from “Last Samurai” era Japan — “11 Rebels”

The end of feudalism, the rise of imperialism and 11 convicts stand guard over a frontier fort, facing modernized infantry and artillery. It’s “Seven Samurai” with 11 “bandits,” a touch of “47 Ronin” and “The Last Samurai” inspired by a … Continue reading

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Netflixable? Slow and stumbling “Squad 36” takes its sweet time getting to all the Cop Picture Cliches

“Squad 36” is a ponderous Parisian police procedural that never seems to get out of its own way. Staggering from cliche to contrivance, there’s little doubt what climax the stock characters who inhabit it are headed to, and that there’ll … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Colman and Cumberbatch, a new war of “The Roses?”

An all star cast includes Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Allison Janney, Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon. And Benedict Cumberbatch in a straight up dysfunctional marriage comedy. Yes, it’s a remake of the Kathleen Turner/Michael Douglas farce, both films are … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys take that “Hallow Road” to a daughter who’s been in an accident

The premise has promise. Your kid’s had an accident, you’re racing to help, or do damage control. “Don’t let her DIE Alice!” Parents dash to carry out a coverup to protect their daughter? What’s odd about this May 16 horror … Continue reading

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