The Miracle Club (2023)
Quirky ‘Miracle’ has its share of Irish charm Can an Irish ex-pat from Boston find and grant forgiveness in a movie thinner than a shillelagh? When Laura Linney portrays her, the odds are certainly in her favor. But she can only do so much with the cliched blarney “The Miracle Club” shamelessly dispenses in a […]
The League (2023)
Enlighting ‘League’ hits it out of the park Jackie Robinson’s demolition of baseball’s color barrier in 1947 was an enormous advancement for African Americans in obtaining social equality. But what about economically? It might surprise you that this momentous achievement induced many once-thriving Black neighborhoods to slip into abject poverty. How it happened is just […]
The Lesson (2023)
‘The Lesson’ is a study in razor-sharp satire Attributed to many, invoked by countless more, the old literary saw, “The best writers steal,” gets a thorough working over in Alice Troughton’s delicious debut, “The Lesson.” While it teaches us nothing new, it does benefit from superior work by Richard E. Grant, Julie Delpy and Daryl […]
Oppenheimer (2023)
Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ explodes with greatness The most devastating impact of a nuclear bomb is the fallout. Just ask J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who forever changed the world by championing man’s most destructive force then had to live with hands stained by the blood of 200,000 Japanese citizens. It’s hard to imagine how a mortal […]
Being Mary Tyler Moore (2023)
Mary Tyler Moore doc is a tad superficial Who doesn’t adore Mary Tyler Moore? “Being Mary Tyler Moore,” the clip-heavy hagiographic documentary currently playing on Max, leaves no doubt where it stands on the subject. But a keen viewer with a far more discerning eye than director James Adolphus will detect tiny cracks in the […]
The Starling Girl (2023)
‘Starling Girl’ effectively targets religious hypocrisy If not sheltered in the arms of God, where on earth is an impressionable 17-year-old girl safe from sexual predators? Especially, ones cloaked in sheep’s clothing, like Owen Taylor, the hunky, brooding youth pastor who doesn’t always practice what he preaches? Yes, “The Starling Girl” is one of those […]
Master Gardener (2023)
‘Gardener’ crops up with meager yield A white supremacist tending daisies wouldn’t seem worthy of a movie. But in the hands of an auteur like Paul Schrader, his “Master Gardener” is a pleasure to witness grow and blossom. It’s not as prodigious as earlier crops, but when it’s Joel Edgerton turning over the soil of […]
It Ain’t Over (2023)
‘It Ain’t Over’ is a Yankee-Doodle dandy If there’s anyone who lived a charmed life, it was Yogi Berra. Even when he lost, he won. But the real victors were those thoroughly entertained by his endearing endeavors off and on the field. Even Yankees haters loved Yogi. He was that kind of guy. And “It […]
White Men Can’t Jump (2023)
Lame ‘White Men’ remake clangs off the rim A playground staple, the game of H-O-R-S-E is all about copying shot after shot. You miss, you lose. So it is with the utterly unnecessary remake of “White Men Can’t Jump.” It misses an attempt to replicate the spark and originality of Ron Shelton’s 1992 smash in […]
Persian Lessons (2023)
‘Persian Lessons’ speaks a universal language Plagued by contrivance and implausibility, “Persian Lessons” nonetheless capitalizes on a pair of highly credible performances to emerge a hard-to-forget Holocaust tale in which memory is both a prisoner’s bane and his best means of survival. His name is Gilles, a rabbi’s son from Antwerp first seen en route […]