Tag Archives: review

Netflixable? Cry “Havoc,” and let’s slip Tom Hardy another ammo clip

Netflix writing a big fat check to the filmmaker who gave us the gonzo Indonesian action franchise “The Raid” was a smart move. But even fans of the over-the-top mayhem that is writer-director Gareth Evans’ trademark may be moved to … Continue reading →

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Richard Chamberlain: 1934-2025, Mr. Miniseries of “Thornbirds” and “Shogun” dies the day before his 91st Birthday

Richard Chamberlain, whose death was confirmed today, came to fame as a “teen idol,” the “McDreamy” of his day playing a young physician on the TV version of “Dr. Kildare.” He had a few shots at big screen stardom — … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Serious and Seldom Seen Sellers — “The Blockhouse” (1973)

Filmed on the whim of a liquor empire heir, a “true story” whose German Army WWII victims were changed to French and citizens of other occupied countries, “The Blockhouse” is one of the strangest titles in the later, quixotic career … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Boy Band Pretty or “Faceless (Shoutai)” he’s too cute to be a mass murderer!

“Faceless” is “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” or just “The Fugitive” for Japan’s current “Seijin no Hi” generation. The conceit is so clever that the clock is probably already ticking on a Hollywood version of this. A … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Korean expats figure out “Bogota” is the “City of the Lost”

“Bogota: City of the Lost” is an underworld “how criminals crime” procedural with an exotic setting and fish-out-of-water characters but no pace or narrative drive worthy of its novelty. A tale that is voice-over-narrated to death by our smuggler-on-the-rise, it’s … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: This time, Dreyfuss is the Old Salt giving advice to those heading “Into the Deep”

“Into the Deep?” Well, “Jaws” it’s not. Entirely too shallow for “The Deep,” too. But Richard Dreyfuss is in it, the “Jaws” alumnus who’s lived to play the sage of the sea role in this B-almost-C picture about gun smugglers, … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Teacher helps a Troubled Student “Brave the Dark” of his Past

“Brave the Dark” is a earnest do-good/feel-good story of the “One Great Teacher Makes a Difference” genre. Released by Angel Studios, which brought us “Bonhoeffer,” “Sound of Freedom” and “Homestead,” where “earnest” is their brand, it’s a low-stakes, dramatically flat … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Accept no Substititute for this Suspsense Masterpiece — “The Wages of Fear” (1953)

Stanley Kubrick was among the most famous filmmakers to assert that if you can’t tell what’s happening in a film — the emotions and motivations of the characters and the point of it all — with the sound turned off, … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Millennials try to buy-in or opt-out of the “American Meltdown”

“American Meltdown” is a comic buddy picture that taps into the deep well of Millennial angst and grievance about a “system” that is finally so broken it doesn’t work for them. At all. Like a lot of fiction and op … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Jolie as Callas, “Maria,” a Diva at Death’s Door

“Maria” is an operatic bio-pic in every sense of the word. In director Pablo Larraín’s vision of “La Callas,” the diva’s diva Maria Callas, there is tragedy off-stage but serenity in the spotlight, an artist wholly prepared and fully immersed … Continue reading →

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