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 […]
Oscar-Nominated Shorts (2023)
Several Oscar shorts come up big In advance of the March 12 Academy Awards ceremony, you’ll want to check out this year’s 15 nominees in the three “Shorts” categories: Animation, Live Action and Documentary. They deal with subjects ranging from climate change to misogyny to the glories of friendship, seeking to find light amid the […]
Shotgun Wedding (2023)
Insipid ‘Wedding’ strands J.Lo at the altar It’s been a January to remember for Jennifer Coolidge, scoring wins at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards for her work on HBO’s “White Lotus.” But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. And for the Norwell native, it crashes and burns amid […]
Corsage (2022)
Krieps royally funny in risque ‘Corsage’ Since her breakout performance in P.T. Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” filmmakers haven’t quite figured out how to fully utilize Vicky Krieps. At least not until writer-director Marie Kreutzer came along with “Corsage,” a delicious offering in which Krieps excels as the beleaguered, sex-starved Empress Elizabeth of Austria. It’s set mainly […]
Broker (2022)
You’ll be sold on ‘Broker’ Continuing his reflections on what defines a family, writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda delivers another mini-masterpiece in which love and criminality meld into a brazen attempt to steal your heart. Yes, he’s repeating many of the themes introduced in his Oscar-nominated “Shoplifters,” but if the formula works, why modify it? Instead of […]
A Man Called Otto (2022)
With Hanks, it’s hard to be ‘Otto’-immune Tom Hanks gets in touch with his inner Larry David as the curmudgeonly sexegenarian at the heart of Marc Forster’s lukewarm English-language remake of Hannes Holm’s Oscar-nominated “A Man Called Ova.” Hanks is in full get-off-my-lawn mode as Otto Anderson, the self-appointed caretaker of his quaint Pittsburgh apartment […]