Review: Searching for Ingmar Bergman Delights in Discovering an Icon of Auteur Cinema
Last year, I had a bit of an adventure as an extra on a movie set. And not just any movie set, either. I ended up as an extra in […]
Review: The Dark Marks a Lyrical, Moving Horror Debut for First-Time Filmmaker
This one took me completely by surprise, and I primarily watched it because I was starving for a horror movie in a particularly dry season. Marking the directorial debut of […]
Review: The Coen Brothers Go Western for a Meditation on Mortality in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The only thing more satisfying than Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, True Grit) making a new Western film is them making six. More to the point, […]
Review: Instant Family Nicely Balances Comedy and Heart
The cynical among us (you know who you are) will view a movie like Instant Family and think it’s some sort of propaganda material, encouraging selfish would-be parents to consider […]
Review: Steve McQueen’s Chicago-set Widows Is a Complex, Layered Ensemble Work
Widows is about a great many things, only one of which is a group of women, all of whom have lost their husbands during the commission of a joint robbery […]
Review: La Divina Tells Her Own Story in Maria By Callas
I’ve attended more opera in the last year than I have in all my years of attending theater (and that’s a lot of years!). I’ve been able to see several […]
Review: Duo in Green Book Make It a Film for Everyone This Holiday Season
Bolstered by two knock-out performances, Green Book may just be the crowd pleaser of the holiday season. Directed by Peter Farrelly (yes, of the Farrelly Brothers and their gross-out comedies of […]
Review: Second Installment of Harry Potter Prequel Fantastic Beasts Isn’t Very Magical
There are times watching Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald that feel like directing rush hour traffic at a four-way stoplight that is green on every side. With dozens of […]
Review: Filmmaker Matthew Heineman on Making A Private War, Casting Rosamund Pike and An Emotional Set
Although it’s not director Matthew Heineman’s first time chronicling people in war-torn regions of the world, A Private War does mark his narrative feature debut (his earlier credits include the […]
Interview: Joel Edgerton and Garrard Conley on Adapting and Casting Boy Erased To Reach the Biggest Audience Possible
Following his critically acclaimed directorial debut The Gift, writer/director/star Joel Edgerton was searching for a story that was far removed from his own experience when he was given a copy […]
Review: Blues Icon Paul Butterfield Gets His Due in Documentary Horn from the Heart
One musician featured in the documentary Horn from the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story jokingly bemoans the fact that it almost isn’t fair that Butterfield was such a talented blues […]
Review: Part Horror, Part War Movie, Overlord Is a Twisted Affair
I love when a film mixes genres. Even if the blending isn’t wholly successful, it’s always a blast to watch how a filmmaker attempts to make them come together by […]