(**) Some will think that this depressing bio/drama is a disservice to the memory of Maria Callas. That it reduces her to a has-been and a concubine, and she shouldn’t be defined by the tragedies in her life. When Angelina Jolie takes on a role, she’s all in. She may not look like the American-born, […]
Queer — 2024 New York Film Festival Review
(**1/2) Something about William S. Burroughs’ books makes you feel like he’s taken you to a stinky bar, where your feet stick to the floor from the grime and everything smells. This adaptation of his book Queer doesn’t feel that way. It’s more like walking through a museum. A boring one. Burroughs, a beat generation gay writer, […]
Piece by Piece
(***) “It might seem crazy what I’m about to say.” But this fun-to-watch bio/mus/doc should’ve been titled Happy, and not Piece by Piece. That’s the vibe. That’s the depth. Certainly, Pharrell Williams is worthy of a movie about his musical feats. He’s won 13 Grammy Awards; an Academy Award nomination (Happy for Despicable Me 2) and his productions have […]
Conclave – 2024 Toronto International Film Festival Review
(****) If you told this twisted story at a cocktail party, everyone would be entranced. They’d listen attentively, right up until the end with the big reveal. That’s when they’d drop their martini glasses, gasp and laugh at how providence has bigger plans for humanity than conniving men could ever fathom. British writer Robert Harris […]
The Brutalist – 2024 Toronto International Film Festival Review
(****) It only takes a few minutes to ascertain that The Brutalist is a brilliant work of art. Soon after it begins, this fictional bio/drama exhibits an artistry and craftsmanship usually rendered by French, Italian or Mexican directors. But surprisingly, this auteur is Arizona-born Brady Corbet. An actor (Thirteen) turned director (Vox Lux) whose talent and skills […]
Saturday Night – 2024 Toronto International Film Festival Review
(***1/2) It’s crazy! One hour and 40 minutes of controlled chaos displays the 90 crazy minutes before air time in the hectic buildup to the first Saturday Night Live show. Wow. Hold on to your coffee cup! You don’t have to know much about SNL to appreciate the artistry and insanity that went into this fine-tuned reenactment. A funny […]
The Order – 2024 Toronto International Film Festival Review
(***1/2) The underground white supremacy movement didn’t start yesterday. More like yesteryear. It’s stunning to learn that what’s new is old as this gripping crime/thriller recounts the 1980s, when the FBI hunted a subversive, racist group bent on violent domination. That The Turner Diaries, a 1978 novel by neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce that was a handbook […]
Babygirl – 2024 Toronto International Film Festival Review
(**1/2) She beds him but thinks of someone else. Someone who’ll fulfill her sexual fantasies. What she can’t get at home, she’ll get elsewhere. Must be easy for female viewers to plug into this desire. A longing that’s been the basis for countless romance novels. The kind with Fabio airbrushed on the front and […]
Nickel Boys Premiered Opening Night at the 2024 New York Film Festival
(**1/2) It’s a story that needs to be told. But maybe not quite like this. Not in a grandiose flurry of images that overshadow a narrative that is as touching as it is important. Dozier School, a reform school in Marianna, Florida, on the Panhandle was real. It was founded January 1st, 1900, and closed […]
The Wild Robot
(***1/2) All hail single moms raising kids they didn’t birth. Dedicated parents who shepherd children into adulthood. They’re saints. It’s almost as if this family film’s theme was ripped from the headlines in this twisted era of demeaning mothers who raise youngsters that didn’t come from their bodies. Or people who pour their love and […]
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