Leo (2023)
‘Leo’ breaks loose, but doesn’t go far enough I’m not sure for whom the computer-animated “Leo” was made, your family or Adam Sandler’s. Either way, it’s nepotism out of control, with four Sandlers listed among the voice talent supporting a wildly uneven tale about a 74-year-old lizard pursuing his dying wish to flee his classroom […]
Eileen (2023)
‘Eileen’ not as gritty as it wants to be If you’re going to borrow heavily from “Carol” and “Bound,” two of queer cinema’s landmark offerings, and then co-opt a repressed 1960s Boston as your backdrop, you’d damn well better be good. That’s the monumental task director William Oldroyd undertakes in his sophomore effort, “Eileen.” He […]
The Iron Claw (2023)
‘Iron Claw’ struggles to get a hold As a child growing up in Nebraska in the 1960s, I spent many a Monday evening watching a locally produced TV show somewhat presumptuously titled “All-Star Wrestling,” on which the likes of Verne Gagne, Mad Dog Vachon, Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher would pummel each other into […]
American Fiction (2023)
Superb ‘American Fiction’ has the Wright stuff Ralph Ellison famously said, “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” It’s a truth another writer named Ellison is about to discover in “American Fiction,” a scathing indictment of society’s penchant for reducing people to stifling stereotypes. The irony, and a potent one, is that Thelonious […]
American Symphony (2023)
Batiste profile ends in tone-deaf ‘Symphony’ I admire the fearless, in-the-moment documentaries crafted by Matthew Heineman. With no regard for his own safety, the ballsy director repeatedly thrusts himself into the fire, whether it’s embedding with drug lords in “Cartel Land,” following citizen journalists inside war-torn Raqqa in “City of Ghosts,” or joining first responders […]
Maestro (2023)
Superficial ‘Maestro’ isn’t well conducted High among Boston’s favorite sons, Leonard Bernstein never forgot his roots. He adored his hometown and state, spending nearly every summer of his adult life guest-conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. But much like Babe Ruth was snatched away from the Hub, Bernstein notched his greatest triumphs as a […]
May December (2023)
Pop-culture obsession at heart of ‘May December’ What is it that stirs our fascination with other people’s lives at the expense of our own? Is it ennui? Or, something much more sinister? A dose of schadenfreude to fool ourselves into believing we are better than others? Those are but a few of the unanswerable questions […]
Rustin (2023)
Inspiring ‘Rustin’ thrives on Domingo’s portrayal There’s no crueler irony than subjects of discrimination ostracizing a person worse off than they are in the hierarchy of social injustice. That, sadly, was the fate of Bayard Rustin, a gay Black man kept at a distance by civil rights leaders, despite his prominent role in attracting worldwide […]
Fingernails (2023)
Weird ‘Fingernails’ could use some polish It’s easy to quantify sex. Just ask Masters and Johnson. But what about love? Can one’s romantic feelings be evaluated and measured in a laboratory? That’s the unanswerable question Greek director Christos Nikou ponders in his ponderous “Fingernails.” The chemistry is certainly there in the form of […]
The Pigeon Tunnel (2023)
‘Pigeon Tunnel’ delves into enigmatic le Carré An interview or an interrogation? Is there a difference? That is the intrigue sucking you into “The Pigeon Tunnel” like a vacuum cleaner. At times, you wonder who is playing whom as Cambridge-based documentarian Errol Morris shrewdly seeks the “truth” from a man who admittedly built his […]