Pieces of a Woman (Kornél Mundruczó, 2020). Pieces of Woman is meant to be a real gut punch of drama. It depicts the repercussions on a marriage when a home birth ends in tragedy. Martha (Vanessa Kirby) is Martha, a … Continue reading Then Playing — Pieces of a Woman; 9to5: The Story of a Movement; The Witches of the Orient
Crossing Delancey (Joan Micklin Silver, 1988). This gentle romantic comedy has the wafting charm of a fable. Isabelle (Amy Irving) is an independent New Yorker with a habit of dabbling with the wrong men. When her grandmother (Reizl Bozyk) enlists … Continue reading Then Playing — Crossing Delancey; The Climb; Don’t Let Go
The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo, 2020). Gam-hee (Kim Min-hee) is on a sort of urban walkabout, visiting different friends who, it seems, she hasn’t encountered in quite some time. She notes repeatedly that her husband prefer the two of … Continue reading Then Playing — The Woman Who Ran; Gemini Man; 21 Bridges
Little Monsters (Abe Forsythe, 2019). This comedic horror romp doesn’t have much to recommended it beyond the bright charisma of Lupita Nyong’o, but that just might be enough. Nyong’o plays Caroline, a sweet kindergarten teacher in Australia. A field trip … Continue reading Then Playing — Little Monsters; Underwater; Like a Boss
Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson, 2016). A reminiscence in the form of a cinematic scrapbook, Kristen Johnson assembles footage that represents her work across a couple decades as a cinematographer for documentaries. Less a greatest-hits clip show than a procession of moments … Continue reading Then Playing — Cameraperson, Wild Rose, Women Who Loved Cinema
The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966). An altogether remarkable feat of cinema, Gillo Pontecorvo’s film documents several years of the Algerian War, when rebels fought against colonialist rule by the French. Pontecorvo opts for verisimilitude, staging sequences with the … Continue reading Then Playing — The Battle of Algiers; Recorder: The Marion Stokes Story; Sleepwalking Land
Bad Education (Cory Finley, 2020). Based on a real incident, as reported in a New York article, Bad Education is a portrait of criminal greed dressed up as glad-handling public duty. Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) is the superintendent of a … Continue reading Then Playing — Bad Education; The Story of Temple Drake; Rocketman
It Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti, 2019). After his big-screen adaption of Stephen King’s It outperformed any reasonable expectations at the box office, it was pretty much inevitable that director Andy Muschietti would go back to Derry, Maine, the small town … Continue reading Then Playing — It Chapter Two; Sounder; Thoroughbreds
Charlie’s Angels (Elizabeth Banks, 2019). Elizabeth Banks does her level best to scrape away the barnacles of patriarchal chauvinism that cling to the light-action property that launched in the nineteen-seventies as the tale of “three little girls who went to … Continue reading Then Playing — Charlie’s Angels; Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Last Christmas
Bumblebee (Travis Knight, 2018). A prequel spinoff of the Transformers films, Bumblebee benefits immensely from the natural comparison to the unwatchable eyesores that director Michael Bay foisted on a helpless world. Making his first live action effort following wide acclaim … Continue reading Then Playing — Bumblebee; Stuber; Just Mercy
Coffee for Two 