THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Playwright and filmmaker Martin McDonagh likes to mess with us. The results can be disarming (In Bruges) or distressing (Seven Psychopaths), but in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri he explores...
View ArticleJUSTICE LEAGUE: HEROES WORTH IDOLIZING
There is something intrinsically compelling about a gathering like this. At its best, Justice League is a lot of fun–the kind of fun I look for in a comic-book superhero movie. It even removes the...
View ArticleMUDBOUND: REAL LIFE, NOT SO LONG AGO
Mudbound is easy to admire but tough to watch at times. It tells a truthful tale from America’s not-so-distant past, contrasting the lives of two families—one black, one white—struggling to eke out an...
View ArticleWONDER: CYNICS NEED NOT APPLY
Wonder is a beautiful movie, and Stephen Chbosky was a perfect choice to direct and co-write it. The author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, who directed his own screen adaptation, isn’t afraid of...
View ArticleCOCO: CELEBRATING A COLORFUL CULTURE
Pixar movies always look good, but Coco is in a class by itself. Ablaze with eye-popping color, every widescreen frame is filled with richly detailed settings and appealing characters. Any concerns...
View ArticleDARKEST HOUR: HISTORY IN THE PRESENT TENSE
It’s easy to portray Winston Churchill in a heroic light with the benefit of hindsight. Darkest Hour reveals how isolated he was when he accepted the post of Prime Minister in 1940 and expressed his...
View ArticleTHE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS: A HOLIDAY GIFT
Who among us couldn’t use a little good cheer right now? The Man Who Invented Christmas supplies just that, in a fictionalized story about how Charles Dickens devised A Christmas Carol at a low point...
View ArticleBOMBSHELL:THE HEDY LAMARR STORY
It’s no longer news that 1940s Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr invented the technology we use in cellular phones and other wireless communications. But the story behind that seeming anomaly is still...
View ArticleTHE BREADWINNER: A UNIVERSAL STORY TOLD THROUGH ANIMATION
Only in today’s world could a story set in Afghanistan come to fruition through the collaboration of studios in Ireland, Canada, and Luxembourg…and the participation of an American named Angelina...
View ArticleTHE SHAPE OF WATER: A GIFT FOR MOVIE LOVERS
Guillermo del Toro is a genius, but not all of his films turn out the way he envisions them. The Shape of Water is a happy exception, a feast for the senses and one of the year’s most original...
View ArticleWONDER WHEEL HITS A SOUR NOTE
Wonder Wheel opens on a high note, with a picture-postcard panorama of Coney Island as it might have looked in a 1950 Kodachrome slide. It’s a vision that Brooklyn-born Woody Allen remembers well, I’m...
View ArticleCARY GRANT: MAKING IT LOOK EASY
Cary Grant remains one of the most charming actors to ever grace the screen. Because of that seemingly effortless charm he never received much credit for his acting, but three recent Blu-ray releases...
View ArticleI, TONYA: STRANGER THAN FICTION, ON AND OFF THE ICE
If you’re still not convinced that Margot Robbie is more than just a beauty, I, Tonya should do the trick. Robbie helped produce the film and has given herself a superb, eye-opening vehicle as...
View ArticleTHE POST: START THE PRESSES!
There is never a bad time to be reminded of the importance of a free press, but Steven Spielberg has seized this moment and made it count in The Post. Older moviegoers will remember the saga of the...
View ArticlePHANTOM THREAD: AN ODD PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR
This is a very strange movie, as one might intuit from its odd title. Paul Thomas Anderson is nothing if not unpredictable, and his latest effort bears no obvious resemblance to his other work except...
View Article‘DOWNSIZING’ OFFERS BIG REWARDS
Downsizing is one of my favorite films this year. I am an unabashed admirer of Alexander Payne and his writing partner Jim Taylor, because they deal in a commodity that’s all too rare: social satire....
View Article‘MOLLY’S GAME’ COMES UP SHORT
Molly’s Game is an explosive true story with Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and a script by first-time director Aaron Sorkin. What could possibly go wrong? Sorkin’s screenplay is based on the memoir of...
View ArticleORSON WELLES AND MAX OPHÜLS SHINE ON BLU-RAY RELEASES
If there’s anything better than revisiting a good movie, it’s learning new things about it. That’s why I appreciate deluxe editions of vintage films. Olive Films’ new 4K transfer of Max Ophüls’ Letter...
View ArticleSMALL TOWN CRIME
There was a time when genre films were a staple of the moviegoing experience. Nowadays the gulf between studio blockbusters and small-scale indies seems bigger than ever. But there is nothing artsy or...
View ArticleCHARLEY CHASE ON DVD—AND THELMA TODD, TOO
When I set out to write a comprehensive article about underrated comedian Charley Chase decades ago for my magazine Film Fan Monthly there was virtually nothing in print about this talented comedian....
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