OLIVER STONE’S SNOWDEN: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
Does the world still need a primer on Edward Snowden? If the answer is yes, then Oliver Stone has performed a service by dramatizing the events that turned a patriotic young man into a disillusioned whistle-blower and, some say,…
BRIDGET JONES’S BABY: JUST BARELY GOOD ENOUGH
How is the new Bridget Jones movie? Just good enough to satisfy its target audience. Fifteen years after the original hit movie, Renée Zellweger is back as the self-deprecating diarist created by Helen Fielding in her best-selling book. Hugh…
A MUSICAL LIKE NO OTHER: ‘LONDON ROAD’
You may have read about the early success of a new musical on the festival circuit called La La Land…but there is another film just coming to theaters that warrants your attention, especially if you care about the future…
LILY RABE SCORES TOP HONORS AS ‘MISS STEVENS’
Miss Stevens is a small-scale but entertaining film that’s worth seeing for an incandescent performance by its star, Lily Rabe (the daughter of playwright David Rabe and the late Jill Clayburgh). Rabe is hardly a newcomer, having amassed a…
ADIEU TO A JAZZ GIANT
I was heartbroken to learn about the death of harmonica virtuoso and all-around jazz great Jean “Toots” Thielemans several weeks ago at the age of 94. I knew he had been ill in recent years but somehow that doesn’t…
HOW TO SEE GOOD MOVIES RIGHT NOW!
Good movies are too scarce to be ignored or tossed aside; that’s why I’m making a pitch for some recent favorites like The Meddler with Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne and J.K. Simmons, which is now available for home viewing.…
Soundtrack Review: The Red Balloon (1956) / Le Voyage en Ballon (1960)
There must be actors who only wish they could move audiences to tears the way the balloon did in this classic, Oscar-winning short by Albert Lamorisse. It was a staple of classrooms (where I first saw…
