“Film, the Living Record of Our Memory” – Lost and Found [MOVIE REVIEW]
At any given moment, cinema, the record of our remembrance of things past, is turning to dust. Tracking the international effort to find, preserve and restore what remains of that history, director Inés Toharia traveled the world to interview the guardians of our collective memory for her outstanding documentary, “Film, the Living Record of Our […]
“SISU” – Don’t poke the bear [MOVIE REVIEW]
“Sisu” is an untranslatable word in Finnish meant to imply courage beyond imagination in the face of extraordinary danger. It’s that, but as this movie will show, it’s so much more. But first, a word of warning. This is an unbelievably violent movie, but so violent, like a Quentin Tarantino film, it becomes cartoonish in […]
“R.M.N.” – Magnetic and resonant [MOVIE REVIEW]
“R.M.N.,” short for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (the Romanian equivalent of MRI, Magnetic Resonance Imaging), long form for a brain scan, takes on several meanings. One of the minor characters is suffering from a tumor, hence his need for this neurological procedure. More globally, however, is the relevance to intolerance. Here, director Christian Mungiu, known for […]
“Gringa” – Groaner [MOVIE REVIEW]
As Fats Domino sang so eloquently, “Ain’t that a shame.” “Gringa,” the assured directing debuts of Marny Eng and E.J. Forester is thoroughly undermined by an inadequate script. Eng and Forester more than do their jobs by keeping things moving and trying to bring out the development of all their characters. To say that Patrick […]
“You’re Killing Me” – Just let me die [MOVIE REVIEW]
“You’re Killing Me,” directed by Beth Hann and Jerren Lauder and written by Walker Hare and Brad Martocello, is a mashup of several genres and, in its own way, a bit of fun, if definitely bloody. Not a masterpiece by any means but there’s probably an audience. Melissa Brown has gone missing from Torrington Prep […]
“One True Loves” – At a time [MOVIE REVIEW]
“One True Loves,” based on the Taylor Jenkins Reid novel (Reid and Alex J. Reid wrote the screenplay), posits the question of whether you can love two different people, have two true loves. Emma’s infatuation with Jesse seemed hopeless. Hopeless, that is, until he noticed her and that was it for both of them. Standing […]
“Kubrick by Kubrick” – Brick by brick [MOVIE REVIEW]
“Kubrick by Kubrick,” the richly informative documentary by Gregory Monro, is a marvel of information gleaned from interviews of the master himself. Notoriously reclusive and tight-lipped, Kubrick rarely talked about his films and definitely not about himself. But there were exceptions, few as they were, and most of them were made for Michel Ciment, a […]
“Wildflower” – In full bloom [MOVIE REVIEW]
“Wildflower” is the sort of true story of an intrepid youngster raised by intellectually challenged parents. Peg and Earl are the parents of Sharon, born seriously challenged intellectually but with a joyful, fearless personality ready to go after what she wants. Derek, whose mental growth stopped at age 13 after a traumatic head injury, is […]
“I Got a Monster”- A scary start [MOVIE REVIEW]
The “Los Angeles Times” has chronicled the subversive presence of deputy gangs within the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. A problem for many years, the last sheriff vowed to rid the department of them and instead embraced them like an unpopular kid being welcomed into a clique. He was defeated by Robert Luna who, also, campaigned […]
“iMordecai” Oy Mordecai [MOVIE REVIEW]
Marvin Samel, director of “iMordecai,” wanted to honor his father with a personal family history. A cigar entrepreneur, Samel had been using his father as a punchline for years in the anecdotes he told during sales events he hosted. He realized he had a gold mine because his father’s stories were endless and when he […]
“Emily” – Wherever I may find her [MOVIE REVIEW]
Actress Frances O’Connor, in her feature writing and directing debut, has tried to translate her fascination with the enigma that was Emily Bronte into a fanciful biography. Scant actual information about Emily Bronte exists. She was reclusive by nature, suffering from an anxiety disorder that kept her close to home. She made several attempts at […]
“Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence” – Hard to retrieve [TELEVISION REVIEW]
Under the category of “truth is stranger than fiction,” “Stolen Youth,” the story of the cult of ex-con Larry Ray, defies even that category. A group of eight Sarah Lawrence students bonded their freshman year in 2009. They had all worked very hard to get into this prestigious New York college. Several were on full […]
“Filmmakers for the Prosecution” – A picture is worth a thousand words [MOVIE REVIEWS]
Based on Sandra Schulberg’s monograph entitled “Filmmakers for the Prosecution”, director Jean-Christophe Klotz has crafted a documentary full of previously unknown information on how the first Nuremberg trial was constructed based on film and photographic documentation shot by the Nazis themselves. In 1945, with the end of the war in Europe, the allies came together […]
“She Is Love” – For better or worse [MOVIE REVIEWS]
Exhausted from her work and international travels, Patricia receives a phone call boost from her partner. He wishes her well but doesn’t have great news. All of her hotel choices are unavailable but he’s found her a charming Inn in the English countryside. It will be perfect for her much needed rest and relaxation before […]
“Children of the Mist” – Seen clearly [MOVIE REVIEW]
The coming of age film is an evergreen that is very hard to pull off and find something or some way new to say it. Director HÀ Lê Diêm has mined the field and found gold in the far north region of Sapa in Vietnam near the Chinese border in this telling documentary. Tracing the […]
“Le Code” – His own [TELEVISION REVIEW]
A legal procedural in any other language is still a procedural and we just can’t get enough of them, especially when the lead is charismatic and handsome. This one, in French, centered in the city of Lille, is just such a series and is graced with a hunk of a lawyer able to leap tall […]