Quick! Someone call Child Protective Services. Three juvenile actors have been kidnapped and forced to play bawdy tweens in this uncontrollably hilarious coming-of-age film. With a salacious script by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, pervy direction by Stupnitsky, and a sense of devious humor that reeks of producer Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express), audiences will laugh themselves […]
So, what’s the big difference between the normal Fast & Furious franchise movies and this new spin-off? Well, when Hobbs & Shaw digs into the old F&F trick bag, it’s as good as the real thing. When it reverts to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s brand of far-fetched action movies (Skyscraper), it’s an inferior project—but not […]
In this MeToo age, a biofilm about a wrongfully convicted high school football player, who was accused, tried and imprisoned for rape, is timely. The real Brian Banks, the subject of this movie, lived through an ordeal that was tragic, inspiring and often profound. However, something is lost in this one-dimensional retelling of his life experiences. Something turns his extraordinary story […]
David Crosby’s tenor voice is so angelic, it’s hard to believe that he was the most antagonistic member of the band Crosby Stills Nash & Young. But according to his own self-reflection, he wasn’t always such a nice guy. Crosby wasn’t the most popular member or highest record seller of CSN&Y; that would be Neil Young. […]
That thing called life. Everyone goes through it, somehow putting a greater focus on the beginning and not the end. Who’s more adorable? Babies or elders? Yea, right. The Farewell dares to venture to the last chapter of our existence as it examines how an Asian family handles the finish-line process. It does so with […]
Sometimes novels that start out slowly turn out to be the books you just can’t put down. Similarly, German writer/director Jan Zabeil’s story about a modern family triad gone askew isn’t easy to discard. Like a painter, he takes his time etching in figures before brushing in colors, textures and shadows that add dimension. Lea […]
She’s a literary icon whose accolades include a 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. For the African American reader who has been glued to her books since 1970, starting with her poignant debut novel The Bluest Eye, this doc is an opportunity to see how the pieces of Morrison’s life have made her whole. For those who […]
You can like the message even if the messenger isn’t perfect. The migration of well-to-do millennials, empty nesters and others into cities and the exit of working-class people and/or people of color is a social phenomenon: Brooklyn, Raleigh, Philly, Chicago, Nashville, Denver… Still, the poster child for cities in radical transition has got to be […]