Review: Topside
This is a really gritty and entirely engaging little film. It's about Nikki (co-director Celine Held) and her 5-year-old daughter Little (Zhaila Farmer) who're living on the edge underground in…
Review: Wood and Water
Not a lot "happens" in this character study film, but that doesn't mean it's boring. It's the story of Anke (played by Anke Bak, the director’s mother), a German woman…
Review: Huda’s Salon
This riveting “based on true events” thriller from two-time Academy Award nominee Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now, Omar) is set in the West Bank. Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi) is a young Palestinian…
Review: Fabian
In this adaptation of "Fabian: Going to the Dogs", a German novel first published in 1931 but later banned and burned by the National Socialist Party, Jakob Fabian (Tom Schilling)…
Review: I Want You Back
While the just-released Marry Me boasts some major global starpower, the just-released I Want You Back is the smarter choice for a circa Valentine's Day romantic comedy. It's quirky, engaging…
Quickie Review: Blacklight
Now where did I put that last review of a Liam Neeson action movie? I can probably just dust it off... At nearly 70 (!) Liam Neeson remains quite watchable.…
Review: Jockey
Jockey is a sports drama that is purposely light on action and heavy on character study. It's more trot than sprint. More arty than mainstream. Get the picture? The film…
Review: Nightmare Alley
I've been a big fan of Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water) since he first made his mark with Pan's Labyrinth back in 2006. He's a master at…
Review: Red Rocket
Director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine) loves stories and characters that Hollywood regularly ignores. And his newest dark comedy Red Rocket continues to plumb the depths of America's underclass. It's…
Spoiler-Free Review: Spider-Man: No Way Home
I've been extremely cautious about venturing back into theaters. But I decided to celebrate my COVID booster shot with a limited-capacity IMAX screening of Spider-Man: No Way Home. After myriad…
Review: Being the Ricardos
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago Seven, The Social Network) is the undisputed master of clever, snappy dialogue. And here he turns his gift to telling the story of…
Review: Drive My Car
Adapted from a short story by Haruki Murikami, one of my favorite authors, Drive My Car is a haunting drama about love and grief and reckoning. It centers on two…
Review: West Side Story
If anyone can get away with doing a new film version of West Side Story-- without really changing the story or the era it's set in-- it's Steven Spielberg. Here,…
Review: Belfast
This Oscar-bait memoir movie comes from writer/actor/director Kenneth Branagh who takes a look back at a defining year of his childhood. Branagh was just a 9-year-old boy in 1969, living…
Review: The Lost Daughter
In her directorial debut Maggie Gyllenhaal demonstrates that she's as talented behind the camera as in front. Oscar winner Olivia Coleman (The Favourite) stars in this psychological drama adapted from…