Fox Searchlight Pictures

Picture a film with the seriousness of Merchant-Ivory displayed with Stanley Kubrick’s reality-warping cinematography and spiked with a streak of the kind of dark comedy which made you bark shocked laughter when you saw what happened to Brad Pitt’s character in the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading. Hell of a concept (and a run-on sentence), […]

Let’s face it: I like films about broken people. People with a chip on their shoulder, some kind of physical/emotional/mental handicap, or an attribute holding them back from being normal. Normal, to me, is the stuff of which Nancy Meyers films and the like are made. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy them from […]

Ever been at a wedding and wondered how, exactly, the seemingly random folks stuck at a table in the corner – who aren’t talking to anyone else, let alone each other – know the bride and groom? Having been a guest or a hired performer at many weddings, watching Table 19 was like watching an […]

Biopics have always been hit or miss for me. Sometimes, I feel like there’s a certain kind of voyeurism and scandal-seeking inherent in films like these, and it’s hard for me to want to be party to it. Pablo Larraín’s Jackie reads like a look behind Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis’ carefully curated and polished veneer upon which […]

I could probably wrap up my feelings about “Demolition” in a couple of sentences, but I’m obligated to write at least 400 words, so enjoy the diatribe. The film, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée of “Dallas Buyer’s Club” and “Wild”, is one of the more aggravating experiences I’ve had at the theater this year. I mostly […]

One of the most beautiful and intriguing films of the year comes from Italian writer/director Paolo Sorrentino in his second English language feature “Youth”, which aside from showcasing the talents of Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and (briefly) Jane Fonda, features exquisite cinematography from Sorrentino’s go-to Luca Bigazzi. Visually, the film recalls Ruben Östlund’s “Force Majeure” and even Wes Anderson’s […]