In Another Round, filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg once again explores human foibles with humor and cold-eyed insight – and profoundly to boot. And, in Another Round, Mads Mikkelsen delivers one of the year’s finest performances. Mikkelsen plays one of four middle-aged male teachers – each in some sort of personal rut and struggling with career burnout. […]
ANOTHER ROUND: humanity buzzed
THE FATHER: as reality shifts
Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins in THE FATHER Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman deliver heartbreaking performances in The Father, an unsettling exploration of memory loss. As we meet the elderly Anthony (Hopkins), he is insisting on independence that he can no longer sustain. That makes it hard on his daughter Anne (Colman), who is trying […]
THE FATHER: as reality shifts
Scorsese: Boxcar Bertha (1972)
Martin Scorsese had less control over his second film than any other in his career, and as a result it’s his least distinctive release, even if it required a certain amount of ingenuity to bring some of his own style to the table. Based on Ben Reitman’s novel Sister of the Road, Boxcar Bertha is […]
Scorsese: Boxcar Bertha (1972)
MARTIN EDEN: Jack London in an Italian art film
Luca Marinelli in MARTIN EDEN A hunky and charming seaman, devoid of education, aspires to become a writer. Sound like Jack London? Indeed London authored the novel Martin Eden, in part modeled after himself. The lush art film Martin Eden is Pietro Marcello’s adaptation, which he set in Italy. Luca Marinelli plays the eponymous protagonist […]
MARTIN EDEN: Jack London in an Italian art film
Best movies of 2020
Chadwick Boseman in MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM. Photo courtesy of Netflix. In the Year of Pandemic, I somehow managed to watch one hundred and fifteen 2020 movies (and another one hundred and forty-nine movies from earlier years). Here are the Best Movies of 2020. Every year, I keep a running list of the best movies […]
Best movies of 2020
Review: Sylvie’s Love
Amazon Studio’s Sylvie’s Love is a love story about two people that meet one summer in 1957 and the journey love takes them on. Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) is a young woman working at her father’s record store. When she crosses paths with Robert (former NFL Pro Bowler Nnamdi Asomugha) a saxophonist in a jazz quartet, […]
Review: Sylvie’s Love
Review: Wonder Woman 1984
Wonder Woman 1984 is the long awaited sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman. Patty Jenkins returns to direct Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. Set in 1984, Diana works at the Smithsonian Institute in D.C. She is also secretly protecting the city as Wonder Woman. The film opens with a very campy scene involving Wonder Woman […]
Review: Wonder Woman 1984