THE FOUNDER IS FORGETTABLE
The Founder tells one of the greatest stories in the history of American business…so why isn’t it a better movie? Michael Keaton is in top form as Ray Kroc, a perpetually struggling salesman with a sketchy grasp of ethics.…
THE MAN BEHIND ‘SUNSET BLVD’
Billy Wilder is one of the towering figures of American cinema, a writer and director whose credits speak for themselves. Yet, interestingly, he always worked with a writing partner—first Charles Brackett (on such films as Ninotchka, Midnight, and Hold…
ANNETTE BENING VALIDATES ‘20th CENTURY WOMEN’
“Write what you know,” aspiring authors are always told. Filmmaker Mike Mills decided to write about his mother and the surrogate family he grew up with in Santa Barbara, California, circa 1979. 20th Century Women is a work of…
VINCE GIORDANO: THERE’S A FUTURE IN THE PAST
If you are already a fan of Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks like me, you’ll need no urging to see this new documentary by Dave Davidson and Amber Edwards. It opens at the Cinema Village in Manhattan today. For…
PATRIOTS DAY: SUSPENSE AND TEARS IN EQUAL MEASURE
Patriots Day is a compelling dramatization of events surrounding the Jihadist-inspired bombing of innocent people at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013. Since we know the broad details of the story and its aftermath, it is…
SCORSESE’S ‘SILENCE’ IS GOLDEN
I would not normally rush to see a film about Portuguese priests on a mission to 16th century Japan. But Silence is the work of a master, Martin Scorsese, who has labored to bring Shusaku Endo’s acclaimed novel to…
‘LIVE BY NIGHT’: A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT
I had high hopes for Live by Night, Ben Affleck’s latest effort as director, writer, and star. I’m a great admirer of his previous films (Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo) but this one falls short, I’m sorry…
