Tag Archives: Reviews

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 KaraƧelik 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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Movie Review: Don Johnson REALLY wants what’s in storage “Unit 234”

It’s got a “name” or used to be “name” cast, a compact setting, a twisty plot and the director of “Sweet Home Alabama” behind the camera. “Unit 234” has the makings of a gritty B-movie that makes the most of … 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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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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Movie Review: A Tasty Tangled Web — “Sew Torn”

I once covered the first day of the first class of a brand new film school. Directing students were learning how to rehearse a scene with actors, and one of them finished his turn running the set when he asked … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Adrift in the Working Class Underbelly of Oz — “Flathead”

“Flathead” is an Australian docudrama peek into the country’s hidden-in-plain-sight underclass. It takes its title from a popular fish Down Under, one of the foodstuffs we see processed, picked, packed and prepared by the migratory workers of many cultures, a … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Slovenia’s Hope for an Oscar? Catholic Choral “Little Trouble Girls”

“Little Trouble Girls” is a conventional girls’ coming-of-age tale whose clever twist is equating sexual awakening with spiritual awakening, at least in the eyes and ears of an impressionable teen. Slovenia’s bid for a Best International Feature Film Oscar covers … Continue reading

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Movie Review: A Beloved Child Inspires a Grand Tragedy — “Hamnet”

The greatest play in the English language was born of father and mother’s wrenching loss of their firstborn son. That’s the premise of Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel “Hamnet,” now turned into an intimate ChloĆ© Zhao period piece about a child’s … Continue reading

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