I’m sorry. I have to say something. I had a problem with Val, and I have a problem with Val, the Amazon film that’s dazzling critics and has set social media a’swoon. Complete with yearbook videos of Val Kilmer, Tom Cruise, Kevin Bacon and others from the dimpled heyday of a Dirty Dancing generation, Val charts the Shakespearean fall of …
In one history of the movies, Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz might look like a footnote. The former playwright had a hand in many famous pictures, including The Wizard of Oz, but most went uncredited. He was the smartest guy in the room, a drunk and a gambler who was dead at 55. And his kid brother, …
There Will Be Blood is ostensibly about real-life California oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny, and even includes the now-famous “I drink your milkshake!” quote, attributed to Doheny during Congressional investigations of the industry. But on Deja-View, it sure seems like Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson is actually paying homage to Stanley Kubrick, particularly 2001: A Space Odyssey. And if …
The Social Dilemma is a terrifying look at what tech engineers have done to make social media a deadly addiction. So it’s more than a little ironic the film couldn’t make itself more arresting. That’s not to say the new Netflix documentary isn’t interesting and, at times, enlightening and downright terrifying. Directed by Jeff Orlowski (Chasing …
The consensus is pretty clear: Tenet is a solid film. The latest Christopher Nolan opus is a time-leaping thriller with a plot as convoluted as Inception and a look that’s just as polished. The movie earned a thumbs-up from three-quarters of the nation’s critics and earned positive reviews from 77% of America’s moviegoers, according to RottenTomatoes.com It also cost …
Some art has a lyrical note to it. Not in the overt sense, like you’d find in symphonies, operas, ballets and musicals on stage and screen. But in a more sublime sense, particularly in the visual arts. Whether it’s a memorable theme song (M*A*S*H*, Cheers) or a show fully aware of the music of its time …
Right out of the gate, Her was hailed as a masterwork. It earned a thumbs-up from an astounding 95% of the nation’s critics. Writer-director Spike Jonze won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. Combined, Her would win 82 various film circle awards and be nominated for 184. Yet the movie never resonated with the American public. Costing $23 million, the …
Warning: Spoilers loose here! First, full disclosure: I love Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. I think it’s one of the best movies of the year, one of Tarantino’s finest in a career of fine films, and as fitting an homage to Los Angeles’ Golden Age of film as any ever rendered. And it’s getting too much …
Well, that changed everything. In 2019, Netflix scored its first Oscar nomination for best picture. A year later, the streaming service is leading the field in total nominations. Movies released by Netflix earned 24 nominations this year, nearly doubling its all-time total. Leading the way for the company this year are The Irishman and Marriage Story, which earned 10 …
(Warning: Spoilers abound in this far away galaxy…) And so, great empires fall and are forgotten. No, not that Empire. Not the one with Death Stars and Stormtroopers and Darth Sinisters. That Empire didn’t fall. It exploded into a million incongruous pieces in a profitgasm called Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which opened this weekend and supposedly …
