Too many great films this year for only a Top-10 list
To borrow a lyric from Johnny Mercer, "Hooray for Hollywood" (and Ireland and Korea). This year's batch of must-see movies came from all over the place, with stories based on true events, novels, comic...
View ArticleDirector Peter Berg goes for realism and emotion in Patriots Day’
Peter Berg's career path has kept taking turns. If you spoke to him when he was still a kid, he might have said he wanted to be a professional boxer. By high school, he had thoughts of becoming a...
View ArticleMovie review: Hidden Figures’ is something to cherish
The corny, but powerful, "Hidden Figures" is the far right's worst nightmare: Three strong, brilliant black women doing it for themselves by forcing a racist, sexist government agency to swallow a...
View ArticleMovie review: A Monster Calls’ is an optical masterpiece in desperate search...
In many ways, "A Monster Calls" is a lovingly rendered meditation on grief, packing plenty of bark and just enough sap to keep it sweet. But why oh why was I not precipitously more moved by director...
View ArticleMovie review: Monster’ works as a serious fantasy film for mature young viewers
When Patrick Ness' young adult novel "A Monster Calls" made it into print in 2011, the book's publisher recommended it for ages 12 and up. That was a good call, because the story's themes of a boy...
View ArticleMovie review: Racial equality gets a boost in the 1960s space race film...
The naysaying about "Hidden Figures" had already begun on social media before anyone had even seen the film. "That story never happened," said someone after watching the trailer. "Three black women...
View ArticleMovie review: Terrorism takes a back seat to dedicated police work in...
Something must be calling out to writer-director Peter Berg to keep making good movies based on awful true events, and having Mark Wahlberg star them. Berg's two most recent films were "Lone Survivor"...
View ArticleMovie review: Suarez, Ugarte performances keep Julieta’ afloat
The ghost of Douglas Sirk laps at every corner of "Julieta," Pedro Almodovar's mother-daughter sudser in which love and martyrdom tragically clash. It's a bold move for the Spanish provocateur, veering...
View ArticleMovie review: Just the facts approach spoils Patriots Day’
When I saw "Patriots Day" last month, I was marginally impressed by its level of class and authenticity. Then I tuned into to see HBO's "Marathon." That was game, set and match as to which is the...
View ArticleMovie review: Ben Affleck brings Lehane’s Live by Night’ alive
Dennis Lehane's slick and fun and nasty 2012 gangster novel "Live by Night" gets trimmed down for director-star and screenplay-adaptor Ben Affleck's movie. But even though some choice scenes have been...
View ArticleMovie review: Scorsese has his viewers suffer in Silence’
As a longtime fan of director Martin Scorsese, I was pleasantly surprised over the past few years by his highly entertaining "The Wolf of Wall Street" and the underappreciated "Hugo." But those films...
View ArticleMovie review: Live by Night’ relies on the obvious
In the stylish Prohibition-era gangster yarn "Live by Night," native son Ben Affleck has ambitions as big as his movie's hat budget. From fedoras to scallys to derbys, Affleck wears many caps both in...
View ArticleMovie review: Scorsese has his viewers suffer in Silence’
As a longtime fan of director Martin Scorsese, I was pleasantly surprised over the past few years by his highly entertaining "The Wolf of Wall Street" and the underappreciated "Hugo." But those films...
View ArticleMovie review: 20th Century Women’ a charming, insightful tale of women also...
The world sure is a crazy place right now. Anyone seeking respite from it for a couple of hours would be wise to check out this little charmer of a movie. It has an advantage in that it's set in a nice...
View ArticleMovie review: Michael Keaton serves up another great performance in The...
If you think you deserve a break today, buying a ticket for this movie, about the early days and meteoric rise of McDonald's is a way to get one. It's true that the same amount of money for that ticket...
View ArticleMovie review: The Founder’ is a symbol of the American dream
"The Founder" tells the story of how a dirt-bag (maverick?) businessman revolutionized the fast-food industry and made McDonald's a household name. But director John Lee Hancock ("The Blind Side") has...
View ArticleMovie review: Shyamalan’s Split’ should be a hit
When most film critics sit down to watch a new M. Night Shyamalan movie, they often do it with a groan. It's been that way for about the past 15 years, due to the string of lesser quality films he made...
View ArticleMovie review: McConaughey is worth his weight in Gold’
"Gold" returns to the era of "Greed is Good," with a paunchy and balding Matthew McConaughey chasing the elusive American dream. From director Stephen Gaghan ("Syriana"), "Gold" tells the "inspired by...
View ArticleMovie review: McConaughey gives Gold’ a golden touch
The names have been changed, but many of the events portrayed in this "get rich quick" story of gold prospecting in the 1980s really happened. Don't go Googling it, though, because at least half of the...
View ArticleJohn Wick 2’ director Chad Stahelski talks about making the action real
Chad Stahelski and David Leitch have been pals since the days they both worked as stuntmen on "The Matrix" series. But being on those — and many other — sets, got them interested in directing. They...
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