Satire is tricky, especially when a film’s subject is rife with common stereotypes and attitudes.  Logan Lucky attempts to balance on the fine line between presenting quirky characters in odd situations and making fun of them as they commit an […]

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I like historical dramas which illuminate corners of history of which I am sadly unaware; such is the case with Viceroy’s House.  This British – Indian – Swedish co-production describes in incredible detail the turmoil which occurred when Britain officially withdrew […]

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I have mixed feelings about this animated franchise just as I have about its most popular feature — the Minions.  On the one hand they are cute and funny and different, yet on the other they are annoying little yellow […]

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The Glass Castle is a very difficult movie for me to review, simply because I came to hate its key character.  Based on a memoir by Jeanette Walls (which I have not read), the film describes Jeanette’s turbulent life, made […]

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This is my kind of thriller — one which presents a genuine mystery at its outset, slowly builds not just suspense but solid, intriguing characterizations and situational complexity before exploding into jarring, thoroughly believable action.  The action, when it finally […]

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The fortieth anniversary has arrived for my favorite film, and I am thrilled to see it in a theater again.  And not just any theater — a new Dolby-equipped auditorium with vibrating sound (just like Sensurround, if one can recall […]

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The third Spider-Man iteration in the last fifteen years begins in earnest with young Tom Holland assuming the role of the webbed crime-fighter.  His first stand-alone adventure is aided and abetted by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who hovers like a […]

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I had a very difficult time with Menashe.  It delves into an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn with a story in which custom and tradition are set against modern convention.  Menashe (Menashe Lustig), a widower, is in no hurry to remarry, […]

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While too many American movies are high-concept dramas which posit extraordinary (or impossible) things happening to people, the French make movies about life, embracing all the crazy, contradictory, messy aspects of living, trying to stay sane, getting along with other […]

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I’ve never read any of Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series, but my understanding is that this film serves as an introduction to what could become a series of alternate-world history-adventures.  Whether or not it ever begets any progeny, this film […]

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