RENĖE ZELLWEGER IS THE ONLY REASON TO SEE ‘JUDY’
Renée Zellweger is now considered an Oscar front-runner for her performance as Judy Garland in Judy. She is excellent, and it’s nice to see her back onscreen. I only wish the film was nearly as good as she is. Based on a…
JIM ALLISON: BREAKTHROUGH—DOCUMENT OF A DISCOVERY
Jim Allison is an appealing figure, a Texas native who loves honky-tonk bars and plays harmonica for fun. In his day job, he heads an illustrious laboratory doing research into the source of cancer. Last year he received the…
WHERE’S MY ROY COHN?
Roy Cohn spent fifty years in the public eye, first as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, and then as the go-to lawyer for high-powered people in trouble, from mafia dons to Donald J. Trump. His…
AD ASTRA: ONE MAN’S DESTINY IN OUTER SPACE
Writer-director James Gray is nothing if not bold. He dared to tackle a non-cynical romantic triangle in Two Lovers and a return to “high adventure” in The Lost City of Z. Neither film found the audience it deserved. With Ad Astra he has ventured…
THE GOLDFINCH: A DIFFERING OPINION
I don’t know why critics in Toronto attacked this film the way they did. It’s not perfect, to be sure, but it’s not a bad movie by any means. Not having read Donna Tartt’s best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel may…
TWO HOLLYWOOD GEMS WITH CHARLES BOYER ON BLU-RAY
It seems to me that Charles Boyer is underrated; I don’t see him being praised or even discussed very often. Having revisited several of his films I am more convinced than ever that he is one of the finest…
BACK ON THE SCREEN: SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY
I was fortunate enough to see George T. Nierenberg’s exceptional documentary when it debuted in 1982, and I’m delighted that it is back on theater screens, with its picture and sound lovingly restored. It is just as I remembered…
