Review: “Babylon”

“White elephants—the God of Hollywood wanted white elephants, and white elephants he got—eight of ‘em, plaster mammoths perched on mega-mushroom pedestals, lording it over the colossal court of Belshazzar, the pasteboard Babylon built beside the dusty tin-lizzie trail called Sunset Boulevard. …Belshazzar’s Feast beneath Egyptian blue skies, spread out under the blazing Southern California morning […]

Review: “Bullet Train”

The Shinkansen, or bullet train, is a network of railway lines in Japan that connect areas across the country to Tokyo, and can reach operating speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. The pacing of the movie “Bullet Train,” set on one of these commuter trains, is about as fast, but far less focused. […]

Review: “The Lost City”

“The Lost City” isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but it is something we haven’t seen in quite a while: a big budget studio screwball comedy centering around big stars whose success hinges almost entirely on the talents of said stars. Sandra Bullock stars as Loretta Sage, a best-selling romance author who has become a […]

Review: “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

4 out of 5 stars. In 1969, Hollywood was changing. The studio system was already long gone, television was at its height, and a new generation of filmmakers were emerging with a completely new way of telling stories on screen. This is the Hollywood that writer and director Quentin Tarantino grew up in, and this […]