It’s Christmastime in Australia, and ‘The Surfer’ is looking to buy his childhood home, which is back on the market. It’s a real quest for the title character of this new psychological thriller with a soap opera-vibe. By living in this house on a cliff, overlooking a gorgeous beach, The Surfer can finally feel whole […]
“On Swift Horses” is a new romance drama set during the Korean War starring some of today’s popular mid-20s to early-30s actors. Daisy Edgar-Jones (from “Twisters”) plays Muriel. She accepts the marriage proposal of Lee (Will Poulter, of “The Maze Runner” franchise and “The Bear”) at her lifelong Kansas home on a snowy Christmas Eve. […]
Ryan Coogler delivered a powerhouse trio of films in “Fruitvale Station”, “Creed” and “Black Panther”. Outside of Angela Bassett’s performance and the opening Marvel intro tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, I wasn’t a huge fan of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. But Coogler is back to form with “Sinners” — an original concept with a […]
One of my most anticipated movies of 2025 delivers. “The Luckiest Man in America” recreates and dramatizes Michael Larson’s unique, epic victory on popular ’80s game show “Press Your Luck”. Paul Walter Hauser does a terrific job as the infamous contestant who was so obsessed with the program that he memorized the patterns of that […]
Atom Egoyan was Oscar nominated for his powerful 1997 drama “The Sweet Hereafter”. His latest film is “Seven Veils”, an examination of the making of an opera and the woman at the center of it. Amanda Seyfried pulls off a challenging performance as Jeanine, the director of a new version of “Salome” opening soon in […]
Let me start off by stating that I like “The Brothers McMullen”. I saw it a long time ago. Edward Burns is now going to make a sequel (called “The Family McMullen”), which hopefully is good, but off of “Millers in Marriage”, I’m not so sure. “McMullen” was a dramedy about a tight-knit family and […]
I was most intrigued to see “Old Guy” because of the cast. Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz stars as Danny, an aging hitman with a recently injured right hand, who is reluctantly training Wihlborg (played by Cooper Hoffman, fantastic in “Licorice Pizza” and “Saturday Night”). Danny’s longtime friend Anata (Lucy Liu) is also in the […]
Paolo Sorrentino is the Oscar winning director of “The Great Beauty”. He also helmed my No. 1 film of 2015, “Youth”, and the excellent 2021 drama “The Hand of God”. If you like Sorrentino, you’re going to love the heartbreaking, honest dialogue he’s known for — once again on full display in his latest movie, […]
I was intrigued by the premise of “Love Me”, reading that Academy Award nominees Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun play a buoy and a satellite, respectively. I didn’t know exactly what that meant and avoided trailers and in-depth commentary on the film until I screened it. The opening act is like a live-action version of […]
In writer and director Mike Leigh’s new film “Hard Truths”, Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives an outstanding performance as Pansy, a woman who seems pretty unhappy. She thrives on complaining and confrontation — often with total strangers in stores, parking lots and offices. Her husband and young adult son have put up with this for such a […]