Boston Strangler (2023) - dir. by Matt Ruskin Boston Strangler, an investigative journalism thriller, is a captivating mix of Zodiac (2007), Spotlight (2015) and She Said (2022). Released quietly and unceremoniously on Hulu two weeks ago, I can't help but wonder if this would be the best movie of the year in, let's say, 2003. … Continue reading My Week in Movies (3/19-3/25)

Fearless (1993) - dir. by Peter Weir What a strange but beautiful movie, similar in operatic tone to Lorenzo's Oil (1992). Both films are painfully earnest, though as far as I know this one isn't based on a true story. In Fearless, Jeff Bridges plays Max Klein, and we meet him as though he were … Continue reading My Week in Movies (3/12-3/18)

Across 110th Street (1972) - dir. by Barry Shear This is a grimy, ugly (in a good way) crime film. It's sweaty (literally, filmed in summer in Harlem) and ultra-violent, with bodies squirting blood like punctured ketchup packets. It's a story about two-bit criminals who get in over their heads after a robbery gone wrong. … Continue reading My Week in Movies (3/5-3/11)

Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark (2023) - dir. by Steven Feinartz What do you say about stand up comedy, you like it or you don't. Well I like Marc Maron, and in this special he discusses, among other things, his grief at the loss of his partner (and filmmaker) Lynn Shelton back in 2020. … Continue reading My Week in Movies (2/26-3/4)

Empire of Light (2022) - dir. by Sam Mendes Empire of Light, like James Gray's Armageddon Time, is one of those prestige late in the year movies that doesn't seem to have connected with audiences or critics. They both look incredible, feature some impressive acting and tackle weighty themes. For Empire of Light, maybe it … Continue reading My Week in Movies (2/19-2/26)

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) - dir. by Michelle Garza Caervera If you like cracking your knuckles and the sledgehammer scene from Misery then you'll love this movie. Valeria's (Natalia Solián) pregnancy digs up old demons and trauma, symbolized by the "bone woman" who appears in her visions and dreams and serves to isolate her … Continue reading My Week in Movies (2/12-2/18)

Plane (2023) - dir. by Jean-Francois Richet I've become a huge fan of these benign Gerard Butler action movies. Like mid-tier Clint Eastwood movies, they are a bit predictable but like a good re-run, that's sort of the point (recent exception is the decidedly not feel good movie Greenland, 2020) In Plane, Butler plays a … Continue reading My Week in Movies (2/5-2/11)

Directed by Michael Haneke Something is amiss in the picturesque village of The White Ribbon. You can almost imagine Nicolas Cage or Jake Gittes riding in, called upon to investigate the (possible) supernatural at play. But here there is no one riding in. We are insulated in this village, seeing it through the eyes of … Continue reading The White Ribbon (2009)

Directed by Shana Feste Written by Shana Feste, Keith Josef Adkins, Kellee Terrell ACT 1: 00:00-30:00 Sequence 1 = 00:00-18:39 Office: CHERIE's report of overheard harassment is ignored-->Bus: Phone call with boss (James)--He says she double-booked him, tells her to take client meeting in his place//harassed by man on bus-->Home: establish her daughter, friend comes … Continue reading Run Sweetheart Run (2022)//Story Structure

No but it's pretty great. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur Beast is a survival movie, a cat and mouse movie. It's a B-movie, in other words, with modest ambition and thrills that aren't quite as cheap as you might initially expect them to be. It's a story about a doctor (Idris Elba) and his two teenaged … Continue reading Is ‘Beast’ the best movie of 2022?