I’m late to the party on Smile 2, which came out in the middle of October, but I just watched it for the first time a few days ago as it just hit streaming. A busy schedule of movies and life got in the way of me seeing this in theaters, but I’m happy I was able to check the movie out before the end of the year because Smile 2 might have shaken…
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William Wyler’s Funny Girl was recently added to the Criterion Collection. Barbra Streisand makes a screen debut for the ages in William Wyler’s musical spectacular. From humor to pathos, she hits every note as popular 1920s singer-comedian Fanny Brice, a young Jewish New Yorker whose spirit and supernova talent propel her to fame in the Ziegfeld Follies, but whose devotion to an unreliable gambler (a charismatic Omar Sharif) brings drama and heartbreak into her life. Adapted…
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Peter Bogdanovich’s 1974 Oscar-winner Paper Moon was recently added to the Criterion Collection. Director Peter Bogdanovich recreates the world of the 1930s Dust Bowl in this beloved, briskly entertaining chronicle of one of cinema’s unlikeliest crime sprees. Real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal (who became the youngest-ever Oscar winner for her spark-plug performance) play off each other with almost musical agility as a Bible-hawking con man and the precocious, recently orphaned tomboy who…
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Moana 2 is an enjoyable but disappointing experience. The sequel to the 2016 Oscar-nominated film is bright and colorful, features nice moments of humor, and has a good lesson at its core but it lacks the first film’s emotional depth and catchy songs. Moana 2 kicks off with our Polynesian heroine Moana (voiced by Auliʻi Cravalho), now her island’s greatest wayfinder and sea navigator, searching for other civilizations amongst the waters. When she finds…
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Howard Hawks’ 1932 gangster classic Scarface was recently added to the Criterion Collection. Blazing across the screen in a spray of bullets, the gangster-film sensation Scarface helped set the standard for the genre for decades to come. Swaggering, scary, and unexpectedly charming, Paul Muni gives an iconic portrayal of criminal sociopathy as Tony Camonte, the ruthless, machine-gun-toting mobster who rises through the ranks of a bootlegging empire atop an ever-increasing body count, but whose possessive relationship…
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Actress Zoë Kravitz is the latest actor to take their talents behind the camera as director with Blink Twice, an interesting and well-made movie with familiar plot beats and twists. Roommates Frida (Naomi Acki) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) are working at a high-class dinner party thrown by Slater King (Channing Tatum). Through a chance interaction, Slater invites Frida and Jess to his new private island with a few friends. Frida and Jess take Slater…
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There are few things cinematically that annoy me more than two great actors being in a terrible film. The Rule of Jenny Pen, which stars Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow, is such a project. While the actors give it their all and give good performances, everything else around them is bad, from the plot to the idiot side characters to the lack of scares in this apparent horror film. Rush plays Stefan Mortensen, a lonely…
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Aislinn Clarke’s Fréwaka is a chilling and haunting horror film rooted deeply in Irish folk lore. Siubhán (Clare Monnelly) — known to her friends as “Shoo”, is a home care nurse who is struggling with the recent death of her mother. She is assigned to the home of Pieg (Bríd Ní Neachtain), an elderly woman who lives in an isolated cabin far away from civilization. Pieg’s home is covered in wards and charms to…
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Known more for his work as a documentarian, director Joshua Oppenheimer makes his feature directorial debut with The End, a musical about the last family on Earth. Deep inside an underground bunker lives a family comprised of Mother (Tilda Swinton), Father (Michael Shannon), Son (George McKay), Friend (Bronagh Gallagher), Butler (Tim McInnery), and Doctor (Lennie James). The world ended years ago, and they have been living in this bunker since, despite having a part…
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Sasha Rainbow’s Grafted is a familiar body-horror movie elevated by its excellent direction and lead performance. Wei (Jess Hong) is a blossoming scientist continuing the controversial, yet innovative research on skin grafting begun by her late father so that she can “fix” the hereditary facial disfigurement. She gets a scholarship to study in New Zealand where she stays with her aunt and mean-girl cousin Angela (also played by Jess Hong). Wei catches the attention…
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