MEGALOPOLIS. For a person who (still) uses Apocalypse Now (1979) to self-soothe, a new Francis Ford Coppola movie is kind of a big deal, no argument. The excitement of that prospect was and is tempered by several factors, though. First, there is the notion that the filmmaker in question has been busier with his wine […]
Minor Theatre
Posted inArts + Scene
Never Let Go‘s Tenuous Bonds
NEVER LET GO. Let me begin by opening myself up to scorn and ridicule: We need to give Halle Berry another crack at the role of Catwoman. Her action work in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and Bruised (2020), in which her fighting chops (in her damn 50s) were equaled by her portrayal of […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Speak No Evil‘s Toxic Traits
SPEAK NO EVIL. It was only after seeing this English language remake — a softer version than the 2022 original Danish film of the same title, I’m told — that I realized the Danes must be a good deal tougher and take their drama bleaker than I do (“Hell is Visiting Other People,” Sept. 22, […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Rebel Ridge Lands a Punch
REBEL RIDGE. It may seem silly or outmoded to continue to subscribe to the auteur theory. It is, after all, a 70-ish-year-old French construct whereby a bunch of critics who wanted to make movies could attribute the success or failure of a project to a person’s singular vision; seems almost quaintly mid-century, almost without the […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Afraid is More Artificial Than Intelligent
AFRAID. The previews for Afraid held a little campy promise — the premise of a family cowering before its power-drunk Alexa has plenty of scary/funny potential — especially under the Blumhouse imprint. In our current climate, it shouldn’t be terribly hard to sketch out an AI villain. If the Google Gemini instructions for adding glue […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Red Flags and Surprises
STRANGE DARLING. That a movie like this (not that I can say I’ve ever seen one) should exist, much less be available in theaters in a remote little outpost like ours, speaks to something promising in the business of American movies. Pardon the optimism. I’ve joined my voice to the chorus of lamentation about the […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Back On Board with Alien: Romulus
ALIEN: ROMULUS. Large as aliens (lower case) continue to loom over our collective curiosity and paranoia — even governments are getting in on the party now — these visitors, real or imagined, tend toward one of two primary species (genera?) suggested by movies and literature. There are, of course, the little gray ones of Whitley […]
Posted inArts + Scene
New Movies of a Bygone Era
CUCKOO. Even from its opening frames, this struck me as the kind of living relic that will (or should) reward some horror nerd, years from now, who discovers it without foreknowledge or judgment. Which is an admittedly reductive way to address a movie that in real time yields its own rewards, conflicting though they might […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
‘A Full Understanding’
Editor: Few people in this country knew that Palestine existed. The narrative has always been about Israel and the need for a homeland. We’re a small group, “Shine a Light on Palestine,” that wants to share the little-known reality that Palestinians have lived under since 1948. We’re planning to show a series of documentaries at the […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Trap Can’t Find a Way Out
TRAP. The conversation I have been having about M. Night Shyamalan movies for a decade begins with recent disappointment, acknowledges The Sixth Sense (1999), maybe Signs (2002) or Unbreakable (2000), and lands with fingers crossed for the next one. Just as I enjoy being tricked at a magic show, I’m happy to gasp at a […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Deadpool & Wolverine to the Franchise Rescue
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. I don’t know that I’m eating crow exactly, but, if I am, I am very much making a meal of it. For those keeping score — mostly vindictive white men of a certain age, if I had to guess — I have been less than effusive in my praise of Marvel movies […]
Posted inArts + Scene
What Twisters Left Behind
TWISTERS. Even in 1996, when we didn’t know how good we had it, some of us approached Twister with what felt like a healthy degree of skepticism. Despite being Jan de Bont’s follow-up to Speed (1994) — which was, if we’re being honest, almost revelatory for what and who it brought to the action genre […]