Review: “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

Imagine being faced with a medical crisis with no one to turn to for help. It’s a sad reality for so many Americans, and especially for women trying to obtain an abortion. Writer and director Eliza Hittman portrays this struggle in her devastating film “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” which follows Autumn Callahan (Sidney Flanigan), a […]

Streaming Movie Reviews: December, Part 3

Here’s the last round of my mini-reviews for December (coming to you almost halfway through January, I know I know). Read on for reviews of “The Midnight Sky,” “Safety,” “I’m Your Woman,” “We Can Be Heroes,” and “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.” “THE MIDNIGHT SKY” (Netflix) There is little hope […]

Review: “The Croods: A New Age”

I’m not sure why I expected “The Croods: A New Age” to be at least a little bit more than, well, crude. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen its 2013 predecessor, but I do remember being pleasantly surprised by it. And there are some things to love in its new sequel, but it’s largely […]

Streaming Movie Reviews: December, Part 2

Here’s part two of my mini reviews for movies released on streaming services this past December, featuring “A California Christmas, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Sylvie’s Love,” and the final three films in Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology. “A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS” (Netflix) Maybe I’d feel a little bit warmer toward this film if it hadn’t misled […]

Review: “Fatale”

We all have our guilty movie pleasures, and cheesy, ridiculous thrillers certainly check that box for many people. But while “Fatale,” a new thriller from director Deon Taylor and writer David Loughery (the pair who also helmed 2019’s “The Intruder”), does the bare minimum to hold the audience’s attention, it doesn’t commit to the genre […]

Review: “Soul”

What is your purpose? What is the meaning of life? What do you do when you haven’t gotten all you want to out of your life? Those are some of the big questions posed in Disney Pixar’s “Soul.” The animation studio’s latest film is made for adults more than any of its previous work, and […]

Review: “Wonder Woman 1984”

2017’s “Wonder Woman” is a film filled with compassion, empathy, and the message that only love can save the world—all qualities you would think you’d find more often in superhero movies, but that actually made “Wonder Woman” stand out amongst the other movies in the genre that often place action above all else. Its sequel, […]

Streaming Movies: December, Part 1

Wow, what a busy month! Despite widespread theater closures and release date delays, awards season and the holiday movie season are both definitely in full swing. I’m presenting some mini reviews of some of the new movies that have been released on streaming services this month so far, including potential awards contenders “Mank” and “Sound […]

Review: “News of the World”

“Maybe, just for tonight, we can escape our troubles and hear of the great changes that are happening out there.” It’s hard not to chuckle a bit when Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) tells this to a group of people gathered to listen to him read them the news, before launching into a story about […]

Holiday Classics: “White Christmas” (1954)

Irving Berlin’s song “White Christmas” had been out for around twelve years by the time a new movie musical of the same title that revolved around his music was made. Directed by the great Michael Curtiz, the plot of “White Christmas” is derived from the 1942 musical “Holiday Inn”, which also starred Bing Crosby and […]