Category: Movies
-
Movie review: “Ballad of a Small Player” hits its notes too hard
The protagonist’s struggle with his demons becomes the film’s focal point — to diminishing returns, because we’ve seen that story before.
-
Three Star Wars retcons Kenner kids can’t accept
Those of us who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy and collected the Kenner toy line remember how real those action figures felt compared to the images we caught only occasionally onscreen. Now, with the movies available on demand and elaborate documentation available online and in print, we’re asked to come to terms…
-
Has “The Phantom Menace” been redeemed?
George Lucas’s boldest and most farsighted choices can be better appreciated at a remove of a quarter-century.
-
Ten hot takes on “Falling In Love” (1984)
This is a romcom with the “com” surgically removed. It’s just a straight drama, and it totally works on that level.
-
Movie Review: “House of Gucci” Is Gloriously Gaudy
Although “House of Gucci” is fun, don’t expect froth. It’s a “Godfather”-scale family saga worthy of its Reagan-era setting.
-
Movie Review: “The Last Duel” Heaves with the Weight of Its Purpose
“The Last Duel” has a Me Too point to make, but it knows the points of its battling beefcakes’ literal lances are what it’s really selling.
-
“Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown”: Charles Schulz’s Last Peanuts Movie Turns 40
“Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!)” is one of the most reflective entries in the Peanuts animation canon.
-
“The Empire Strikes Back” at 40
It was “The Empire Strikes Back” that made “saga” a word the Star Wars franchise had well and truly earned.
-
“Heartbeeps”: The Poignant Appeal of Andy Kaufman’s Final Film
You probably haven’t heard of “Heartbeeps,” and Andy Kaufman even offered to refund admission to his 1981 flop, but the movie retains a strange poignacy.
-
“The Social Network,” the Harvard of Dreams, and the dreams of Harvard
During the opening of “The Social Network,” Zuckerberg’s seen running through the real Harvard Square. Then he enters the Harvard of dreams.
-
Revisiting “The China Syndrome”
This year of Chernobyl fascination also marks the 40th anniversary of a prescient thriller released less than two weeks before Three Mile Island.
-
Happy 20th Birthday to “Phantom Menace,” the Terrible Star Wars Movie That Changed Everything
20 years ago today, millions of Star Wars fans settled into their seats for one of the most epic disappointments in movie history.