Author: Al Alexander

I began as a film critic for The Patriot Ledger in suburban Boston in 1988, and became the senior film critic there in 2001. My reviews also appeared in newspapers associated with the nationwide Gannett chain. I' was recently granted membership to the prestigious Southeastern Film Critics Association and I've been a member of the North Carolina Film Critics Association since 2014. I have twice been honored by The New England Associated Press News Executives Association for outstanding feature writing. I transplanted from Boston to Raleigh in 2013 but remained on staff at the Ledger until 2023. I'm now starting out on my own in hopes of drawing attention to autism and putting it in a positive light. I was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum in 2020, and it has given me a whole new perspective on life, as well in how I analyze movies.

Fuze (2025)

Exciting ‘Fuze’ knows how to go boom       Going into the intricately plotted “Fuze,” I wasn’t expecting anything beyond the dozens of other “Rififi” wannabes seeking to reinvent the heist drama. But what “Hell or High Water” director David Mackenzie delivers isn’t half bad. Implausible, yes; but thrilling, just the same. Not to mention brimming […]

Ballistic (2026)

‘Ballistic’ reveals the human cost of forever wars       As an anti-war film, the angst-ridden “Ballistic” mostly fires blanks. It also raises very little empathy for Lena Headey’s Nance Redfield, a Gold Star mom about to go postal on anyone and anything remotely responsible for her son’s death in an Afghani firefight. And this includes […]

Normal (2025)

Odenkirk’s skills are higher than ‘Normal’     Crossbreeding Tennyson with the Coen Brothers is a bold move on the part of “John Wick” scribe Derek Kolstad. And in the ironically titled “Normal,” it almost works thanks to Bob Odenkirk, the somebody who was Kolstad’s “Nobody.” And he’s really something, more Jimmy McGill than Saul Goodman […]

Exit 8 (2026)

It’s easy to find yourself lost in the eerie “Exit 8.”