WORTH CALLING: THE NEW ‘GHOSTBUSTERS’
I am not a fan of remakes, by and large, but I don’t consider it sacrilege to have rebooted this 1984 comedy hit…nor do I think it’s foolish to have cast it with females in the leading roles. In…
WOODY ALLEN’S ‘CAFÉ SOCIETY’ DOESN’T PASS MUSTER
I cut a wide swath for Woody Allen and always have, but even I have to admit that Café Society is one of his weakest films. It isn’t dull, thanks largely to Santo Loquasto’s exquisite production design, evoking vintage…
‘THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS’ LEAVES YOU PANTING
Several people have told me how much they like the trailer for this movie; I don’t wonder. It’s so jam-packed with gags there are more than enough to supply a high-energy preview. But while the finished product is likable…
PORTRAIT OF A FANATICAL FATHER: ‘CAPTAIN FANTASTIC’
Despite its fanciful title, Captain Fantastic is an all-too-believable story about a man who raises his six children in a commune-like environment in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, away from civilization and all the evils he believes it…
CHAPLIN AND KEATON DISCOVERIES
While watching the bonus features on the new Criterion Collection release of Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, I had to pinch myself: there is a 1921 newsreel that follows Charlie’s seagoing journey from the U.S. to England called “Charlie” on…
ELIE WIESEL’S TRIP TO DISNEYLAND
As the world mourns the loss of author, activist, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who died July 2 at the age of 87, a rare piece from his early journalistic career has come to light. Author…
‘THE LEGEND OF TARZAN’ SWINGS
As popcorn movies go, The Legend of Tarzan is pretty good. It certainly has a well-cast leading man: Alexander Skarsgård may not be a typical macho screen personality but he looks great and, though low-key, is both likable and…
