Review: Balloon (Ballon)
Seems like all I'm seeing lately are film based on true stories. In this one, two families living in Cold War East Germany in 1979 plan a daring escape to…
Review: Beanpole (Дылда)
War is hell. And life after war is, too. Most war films concentrate on the effects that the carnage has on men, but this Russian melodrama looks at how the women…
Mini-reviews: 2020 Oscar-Nominated Short Films
If you're planning to watch the Academy Awards this weekend, chances are you haven't had a chance to catch the shorts. I mean, who does? Unless you're lucky enough to…
Review: Citizen K
In his latest documentary award winning director Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side) takes his audience into the world of the Russian…
Review: What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
My first experience with reading film criticism was with my mother's New Yorker magazines. Most of what was in the magazine was too highbrow for me as an adolescent, but…
Mini-review: A Patient Man
This one is so very indie. Not a recognizable big-name actor in sight. That's sometimes a good thing. You don't know where to look, who is the important person. Sadly…
Review: Weathering with You
I'm not a big animation watcher, at least not of the big Disney/Pixar variety. But anime is a different story. Films like Spirited Away or Akira feel every bit as…
Arty Chick’s 2019 Top 10
Unlike Mainstream Chick, I don't think 2019 was a good year for movies. I didn't come out of many saying, “That was amazing! I have to tell people about it!”…
Review: Little Women
Louisa May Alcott's 1860s novel Little Women has been adapted to film more times that I can count, beginning in the silent era. So do we really need another one?…
Mini review: Marriage Story
Both of us Chicks saw this one at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier this year where it was the opening night film. From director Noah Baumbach (Margot at the Wedding,…
Review: Bombshell
This movie has so much going for it - a knock-out cast, a ripped from the headlines #metoo #girlpower story, a humiliating takedown of the creator of Fox News -…
Review: Queen & Slim
Worst first date ever! Queen only went on the date because she had a bad day and didn't want to be alone. But Slim (Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out) was having…
Review: Uncut Gems
Adam Sandler is one of the most exasperating actors out there. He's made a slew of horrible, stupid movies (The Waterboy, Billy Madison), and yet every now and again he…
Review: The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
This is a total indie gem. It's the story of two Indigenous women who meet by chance on a street in Vancouver as one of them is fleeing domestic abuse.…
Review: Knives Out
I caught this one at Middleburg, and sadly it was my biggest disappointment of the festival. As whodunits go, the jig is up pretty early on. But it has so…