For his third feature as a writer-director — and first in more than fifteen years — Todd Field takes a mighty swing. Tár recounts the fall of Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), an esteemed conductor on the verge of a monumental … Continue reading Now Playing — Tár
It is the spring of 1923 in the humble community on the island of Inisherin, off the coast of Ireland, and Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) is confused by what he’s just been told by his longtime friend Colm Doherty (Brendan … Continue reading Now Playing — The Banshees of Inisherin
The Slumber Party Massacre (Amy Holden Jones, 1982). Released in the heady days after John Carpenter’s Halloween made studios decide that the surest bet for quick cash was conveyor-belting out films featuring weapon-wielding maniac picking off teens one by one, … Continue reading Then Playing — The Slumber Party Massacre; The Fog; Barbarian
Director Ti West’s new film, Pearl, is a prequel, but that hardly matters. Yes, it is narratively connected to X, the springtime release, written and directed by West, that paid tribute to most sordid cinema of the nineteen-seventies with its … Continue reading Now Playing — Pearl
I am neither oblivious nor immune to the pleasure to be had in watching Viola Davis absolutely kick ass on screen. Usually that description is more metaphorical, referring to her ability to take charge of a dramatic scene and command … Continue reading Now Playing — The Woman King
Hannie Caulder (Burt Kennedy, 1971). Raquel Welch stars in this Western as Hannie Caulder, a woman who is widowed and raped by three bank robbing brothers fleeing their latest stick up (Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, and Strother Martin, Western movie … Continue reading Then Playing — Hannie Caulder; War of the Planets; Top Gun: Maverick
Fuzz (Richard A. Colla, 1972). Fuzz can be slotted in with the spate of films from the first half of the nineteen-seventies, such as Across 110th Street and The Super Cops, that depict big-city police work as nonstop chaos, an … Continue reading Then Playing — Fuzz; Prey; Broken Strings
I don’t really know anything about writer-director Jordan Peele’s process when he crafts a new film, but I like to imagine that he starts with the first story idea that comes to mind and then pushes himself — pointedly and … Continue reading Now Playing — Nope
I want to review the new film Thor: Love and Thunder without feeling obligated to contextualize it against the whole Marvel moviemaking machine, but I’m not sure that’s possible. Well, it’s likely possible. Maybe it’s not advisable. It is officially … Continue reading Now Playing — Thor: Love and Thunder
The Many Saints of Newark (Alan Taylor, 2021). Nearly fifteen years after an exceptional series finale that stirred controversy among people who evidently misinterpreted everything that had come before, The Sopranos gets an utterly needless revival with a prequel feature … Continue reading Then Playing — The Many Saints of Newark; George Carlin’s American Dream; Old
Coffee for Two 