Why You Should Be an Optimist in 2024
As 2023 winds down, most of us will spend some time reflecting on the year and thinking about the one ahead.
‘The Crime is Mine’—For All of Us
We all have reasons why we’ll see a film sight unseen and one of mine is Isabelle Huppert. She makes even mediocre movies (and she’s been in a few) watchable. So what a thrill when she’s in a good one, and a comedy to boot,
‘American Fiction’ – Too True
Adapted from Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure,” “American Fiction” tells a story of Black identity from many different, and always ironically funny, points of view.
“Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story” – An appreciation
Mariette’s date from hell, as if the first one wasn’t enough, was with someone she calls “psycho date” played by a demonically serious Peter MacNicol as he describes how he disposed of a body off the Long Beach Pier. “Do you want dessert?” It’s tough
‘All of Us Strangers’—Eternally
“All of Us Strangers,” an enigma of a movie directed and written by Andrew Haigh based on “Strangers,” a novel by Taichi Yamada, will leave you off balance from its quiet, almost tedious start to its ending that may be only a beginning. Sound complicated?
‘The Zone of Interest’—In the Eyes of the Beholder
Jonathan Glazer’s new film, loosely based on the Martin Amis novel of the same name, more closely hews to the imagined reality of the actual individuals who inhabited “the zone of interest,” the 40 square kilometer area surrounding the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
‘Merrily We Roll Along’—Roll While You Can
Originally produced in 1981 and a very famous flop, “Merrily We Roll Along” is now the biggest hit on Broadway and deservedly so.
‘Napoleon’—A Leader Not Led
Ridley Scott has taken on the imperial task of telling the story of Napoleon Bonaparte in all its massive glory.
Top Picks for Holiday Viewing
The runaway success of this summer’s biggest hit, “Barbie,” brought a wide swath of the public back into theaters. Certainly, “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” got the summer ball rolling, but this holiday season is different, even though strikes by both the WGA
‘Rustin’— “Let Us Be Enraged by Injustice, But Let Us Not Be Destroyed By It.”
Bayard Rustin is a name that should be on the lips of anyone discussing civil rights and its historic leaders.