EDDIE MURPHY SCORES IN ‘DOLEMITE IS MY NAME’
Eddie Murphy is back and on top of his game, playing underground comedian and proto-rap artist Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name. It’s a role he was born to play and, to use the vernacular, he kills it. Rudy…
LUCY IN THE SKY: EARTHBOUND
Lucy in the Sky is an ideal vehicle for Natalie Portman, cast as an astronaut who finds outer space thrilling and life back on earth somewhat less so. Affecting a Southern accent and sporting a short haircut, she creates a…
MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN
Alexandre O. Philippe specializes in documentaries about notable movies, including 78/52, a brilliant exploration of Alfred Hitchcock’s shower scene from Psycho. Memory is somewhat different; it isn’t a “making-of” film, as that has been done before. This is more an examination of the…
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…
