Tag Archives: film

Movie Review: “I Was a Stranger” and You Welcomed Me

Just when you think that you’ve seen and heard all sides of the human migration debate, and long after you fear that the cruel, the ignorant and the scapegoaters have won that shouting match, a film comes along and defies … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer”

Sometimes a film title says it all, or at least entirely too much. Turkish filmmaker Tolga Karaçelik blunders into that truism all too eagerly with his American feature film debut — a comic thriller he deigned to over-label “Psycho Therapy: … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Hitchcock “adapts” to Talkies — “East of Shanghai” (aka “Rich and Strange”) (1931)

It came as a surprise for me, and probably shouldn’t have, that Alfred Hitchcock’s transition to sound from silent cinema took more than a film or two and more than a year or two. Hitchcock was half a dozen films … Continue reading

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Movie Review: What Makes “Marty Supreme?”

New York filmmaker Josh Safdie has his fans, and I’ve been one of them at times. At other times? Not so much. He does underbelly-of-the-city stories well. “Good Time” was something of a reinvention of the possibilities of Robert Pattinson. … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Kirby Howell-Baptiste is our Tour Guide among “We Strangers”

A hint of the inscrutable can do service to any film in any genre, and it pays off some surprising ways in “We Strangers,” an oddball domestic dramedy about a “domestic” and the dizzy white folks who hire her. Veteran … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: “Detour” (1945), still as Noir as Film Noir Gets

“That’s life,” the anti-hero of “Detour” growls in voice-over. “Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you.” Hardboiled, archetype-upending and gorgeous in its bare-bones minimalism, “Detour” is quintessential film noir. “The Maltese Falcon” preceded it and … Continue reading

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Netflixable? Koreans face Doomsday — “The Great Flood”

Preppers, survivalists, Rapture fans and doomsday cultists may get a kick out of “The Great Flood,” a downbeat-to-the-point-of-bleak thriller about the End of Human Civilization. A young Korean mother (Kim Da-Mi) carries her six year-old (Kwon Eun-sung) up several flights … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and Dazzling Tedium

James Cameron was very much running out of interesting things to say and show in his “Avatar” franchise with the second movie, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The third film, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” confirms that fear and adds on … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Lost in the Lush Longueurs of “Paris, Texas”(1984)

One has learned to temper one’s expectations when settling in to watch any Palme d’Or winner from the Cannes Film Festival over the years. One has. A “best picture” honor selected by an ever-changing jury of filmmaking peers from all … Continue reading

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Rob Reiner: 1947-2025

Like most people I’d care to know, I was shocked and saddened to learn of the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle this past weekend in Los Angeles. It’s the sort of crime that makes one leap to … Continue reading

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