First-time feature director Camille Griffin tries to offer her version of how folks (in this case, a dysfunctional, wealthy British family) would handle the apocalypse. Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode lead the way in what could have been a biting allegory but instead winds up as a whimper that dissolves […]
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The Rescue
This thorough (and thoroughly nail-biting) documentary about the rescue of the Thai youth soccer team from a flooded cave was produced and directed by the team behind the phenomenal Free Solo. Expertly crafted and featuring interviews with all the key players, it is an utterly comprehensive and fascinating blow-by-blow of […]
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Mixtape
Despite dipping into the fondue pot of cheesiness a little more than it needs to, this dram-com about an orphan girl who tries to learn about her late parents via a mixtape they left behind plays like a half-Indie/half-Hallmark hybrid. Squarely targeting the tween girl set, it’s got plenty of […]
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The Power of the Dog
Over the years, Netflix has earned five Best Picture nods (‘Roma’, ‘The Irishman’, ‘Marriage Story’, ‘Mank’, and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’) but they might finally win with this masterpiece from Jane Campion. The quintessential slow-burn Western, ‘Dog’ is an absolute thing of unsettling beauty, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as […]
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Burning
As knock-you-over great as this documentary is, the real crime (along with the devastating climate change impacts portrayed) is that the people who should be watching it are, no doubt, the ones who will stay farthest from it. Director Eva Orner (‘Out of Iraq’) chronicles the Black Summer bushfires in […]
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Twas the Fight Before Christmas
If you haven’t yet heard the tale of the Idaho neighborhood sued by a resident who wanted to host a gonzo Christmas spectacular at his house, run, don’t walk to this riveting documentary. Just when you think it’s nothing but a harmless little tiff between neighbors, it escalates into all-out […]
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Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson follows up 2017’s haunting ‘Phantom Thread’ with (why not?) a ‘Dazed and Confused’-like coming of age story. Starring Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman (Phillip Seymour’s kid), it hearkens back to PTA’s ‘Boogie Nights’ both in setting and tone…and is just as good. A complex (but still accessible) […]
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House of Gucci
The fabulous Lady Gaga leads the way in Ridley Scott’s half-camp, half-drama biopic of the wholly-dysfunctional fashion house. The A-list cast (including Al Pacino, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, and Jeremy Irons) hits it out of the park pretty much across the board, but it’s Scott’s fault that this coulda-been doesn’t […]
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Encanto
The sixtieth (yes, 60th!) Disney animated film is a magical blend of culture, color, light, and music telling the story of a young, outcast-ish Columbian girl who must save her family from a curse. Written and directed by the folks behind ‘Zootopia’ and ‘Moana’ (among others), it’s a fantastical trip […]
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8-Bit Christmas
This note-for-note rehash of A Christmas Story (though set in the 80s with plenty of nostalgia for the Gen X set) is kept afloat at least somewhat by Neil Patrick Harris as the little-kid-grown-up-to-be-narrator. “Cute”, “adorable”, and “sweet” are just a few of the adjectives that will be tossed around […]
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