I am not a gamer, but I had no trouble immersing myself in the hyperkinetic world of Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One and had a good time watching it—for a while. I don’t share the same degree of nostalgia for…
It may be the height of redundancy to call a Wes Anderson film eccentric, but that’s the word that comes to mind as I ponder his newest creation, Isle of Dogs. Like The Fantastic Mr. Fox, it is executed in stop-motion animation and…
If you’re wondering why there are shouts of jubilation from film buffs and aficionados of pre-swing-era music it’s because the Criterion Collection has released a beautiful Blu-ray and DVD of King of Jazz (1930), The movie features Bing Crosby’s…
I tend to associate the Criterion Collection with exemplary releases of classics from Hollywood (like the recent Blu-ray of John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln) and international cinema (like Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr ). But Criterion is also home to…
South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas has become a “must” for my daughter Jessie and me. Originally a music event, its film component is now a launchpad for movies big and small and a gathering place for anyone…
I am a sucker for movie collectibles, all sorts. That’s why my wife and I view the arrival of a new auction catalog from Hake’s Americana and Collectibles with mixed emotions: on the one hand, we love seeing what…
I wouldn’t presume to guess how a 12-year-old will respond to this film, especially if that girl or boy hasn’t read Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved book. I can only express my feelings, which are decidedly mixed. On the one hand,…