Tag Archives: film

Netflixable? Dios Mio! Dazzling “I Am Frankelda” loses the Plot

The cotton tufts of simulated fog that roll into the stop-motion animated terrors of “I Am Frankelda” can resemble hands of the damned frantically reaching up from the depths of whatever lies below. Vividly-colored sets filled with whimsical human (ish) … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Movie Review: Douglas and Morse reminisce about Belize, “Looking Through Water”

The best most screen actors can hope for in their dotage is roles that don’t embarrass or seem beneath them. The lucky ones land a decent scripted series or a challenging supporting role on the big screen. But too many … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

BOX OFFICE: It’s “Disclosure Day” weekend, but “Obsession” and “Backroom” are Still Making Bank

Steven Spielberg’s third shot at “The aliens have made contact” is overperforming the low expectations that Universal had put out — $35 million, they said. For a Spielberg movie. With aliens. And Emily “A Quiet Place” Blunt. Not a world … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Classic Film Review: Life Lived on the Margins on an Island off Ireland — “Man of Aran” (1934)

Hard lives the way they used to be lived are the subject of documentarian Robert Flaherty’s classic “Man of Aran,” a fictional film capturing the traditions of the past on Ireland’s Aran Islands in the 1930s. A black and white … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Netflixable? “Ladies First” remakes “I’m Not an Easy Man” in Sexist Shades of British

One of the most popular Netflix films from France, “I’m Not an Easy Man” earns a British-accented remake with “Ladies First,” a gender-reversing Sacha Baron Cohen/Rosamund Pike rom-com. Seems to me I traded cars on the review traffic from the … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: A Star Director Remembered in his Own Words — “Sydney Pollack: Collected Interviews”

I’m really enjoying and learning a lot about the celebrated, Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack through the assorted journalist interviews, public Q & As and filmmaker-to-filmmaker chats gathered in “Sydney Pollack: Collected Interviews. “ This University Press of Kentucky publication reminds … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Movie Review: Beware the “Backrooms” of Your Worst Nightmares

Here’s a thriller that Maurice Escher could have production designed, with Salvador Dalí decorating the sets and Stanley Kubrick behind the camera directing. Not that Youtube phenom turned horror filmmaker Kane Parsons is the new Kubrick. But in turning his … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Movie Review: Beware the “Backrooms” of Your Worst Nightmares

Movie Review: Even the most Righteous Revenge has a Cost — “Is God Is”

Writer-director Alaesha Harris makes a furious feature film debut with “Is God Is,” an ugly, unblinking slice of African American Gothic horror as relevant as a headline and as timeless as a parable. It’s about two fire-scarred sisters “always on … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Movie Review: Even the most Righteous Revenge has a Cost — “Is God Is”

Movie Review: The Revolution will be Shoplifted– “I Love Boosters”

Capitalism’s end game is taunted and satirized in “I Love Boosters,” a loopy, anarchic comedy about shoplifting, fashion, media mass indoctrination and This Cultural Moment. The latest from the rapper and songwriter turned filmmaker Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”) … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Documentary Review: The Insufferable Ages into Adorable — “Marty: Life Is Short”

Maybe he wore us down. The decades of often indifferent movies, the endless wacky guest-spots on sitcoms, chat show appearances that fatigued the host and viewer long before the commercial break, all of that took its toll on the public … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Documentary Review: The Insufferable Ages into Adorable — “Marty: Life Is Short”