Paper Flowers (2024)
Bland ‘Paper Flowers’ is an empty garden Cancer is never funny, but movies about it sure can be, even unintentionally so, such as the insipid wannabe weeper “Paper Flowers.” It produces more corn than the entire state of Iowa in canonizing a selfless martyr not seen since the days of Mother Teresa. I’m […]
How to Divorce During a War
Tepid ‘How to Divorce’ is a split decision Perhaps it’s due to my analytical ASD brain, but I struggled to understand how the breakup of a married couple in Lithuania parallels Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Heck, it’s not even the same country being violated. Nor does it even border it. Besides, Lithuania is protected […]
The Magic Faraway Tree (2026)
Lumbering ‘Tree’ is all bark, no wood Tomatoes play a major role in Ben Gregor’s adaptation of Enid Blyton’s beloved “The Magic Faraway Tree,” but, alas, they all go splat. Well, not entirely. The colorful costumes and imaginative production design are ripe for praise, but Simon Farnaby’s script too often veers toward the rotten. […]
The End of Oak Street (2026)
Quaint ‘Oak Street’ is woefully short on excitement I’d be hard-pressed to name the best flick of this summer, but I can’t instantly cite the dumbest. That would be the dinosaur of dinosaur movies, “The End of Oak Street.” Why do I not pine for “Oak”? The reasons are many, from the awful […]
The Rivals of Amziah King (2025)
You’ll savor the sweet nectar of ‘Amziah King’ Forget Ulysses and Spider-Man; the buzziest superhero of the summer is a mandolin-strumming apiarist with a honey of a tale to tell in the brilliant bee-noir “The Rivals of Amziah King.” And all I can say is all right, all right, all right! Because this unexpected […]
The Brink of War (2026)
Cold War talks are taken to the ‘Brink’ If you were alive in the autumn of 1986, when Bill Buckner whiffed on Mookie Wilson’s slow-roller to first, you’ll no doubt also remember the much-ballyhooed Reagan-Gorbachev summit that took place just three weeks earlier in chilly Reykjavik, Iceland. Little was settled during that Saturday-Sunday meeting […]
Don’t Say Good Luck (2026)
Lousy ‘Luck’ is jinxed right from the start From its generic title to its nepo baby star, the new Netflix weeper, “Don’t Say Good Luck,” is the epitome of bland, broad-brush filmmaking. Nothing about it is original or vital. Just a shoddily made gift from a dad to his not-so-talented daughter in an effort […]
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)
Camp goes to camp in sly ‘Teenage Sex and Death’ There are few things more liberating than discovering your true self, even if it takes decades to reveal. It happened for acclaimed trans filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun in their 30s. Suddenly, everything made sense, dramatically altering their view of the world. For me, it was […]
Late Fame (2025)
Willem Dafoe is pure poetry in ‘Late Fame’ For his follow-up to his heartfelt “Diane,” Pittsfield native Kent Jones relocates from the Berkshires to Lower Manhattan for a similarly engrossing tale about an aging protagonist processing regret while contemplating legacy. It’s called “Late Fame,” culled from an 1895 novel by Arthur Schnitzler (“Eyes Wide […]
Olmo (2026)
Sweet ‘Olmo’ devolves into coming of age clichés Like its namesake, “Olmo,” Spanish for elm, is sturdy and symbolic of revolution and the desire for change. It’s about a New Mexican teenager revolting against the authority of his parents, but it’s also very much a striking metaphor for the oppression of immigrants across the […]