Wim Wenders’s latest takes us through 12 years in the life of a writer who accidentally ran over a child and the emotional cauterization of feelings the tragedy visits upon all parties involved. Wenders can photograph nothing and make it interesting, which is kind of what he does with screenwriter …
When a post-coital Mieke (Lily James) informs the Nazi spy (Jai Courtney) in her bed that she’s a Jew, what else is there for him to say but “I’m not.” That kind of pillow talk is just one of the more refreshing dialog exchanges in this rousing, old fashioned espionage …
Andrew Carnegie envisioned a New York City with a library within walking distance of every resident’s doorstep. Frederick Wiseman’s documentary takes us on a guided tour of several. Public libraries are neighborhood oases, some of the few safe and welcoming spaces left in the world. From an intimate reading-group discussion …
We've seen this all before: the blasphemous possessee strapped to a palpitant bed, the priest pausing briefly in the light emanating from the bedroom window before rushing to her side, spewing green, etc. Director Alejandro Hidalgo is well-aware of the familiarity the images spark and uses it to his advantage …
Simon West hasn’t printed one watchable frame of film since setting the bar high with his debut feature, the uproarious Con Air. When it came time to reassemble the dirty half-dozen or so (plus JCVD and Chuck Norris), West’s uncolored staging was just the touch needed to give flight to …
Never has a title been so far off base. Open on a paranormal-detective VHS tape badly in need of tracking. Cute. Flash-forward a couple of decades to find Rose (Maeve Higgins) and her sister Sailor (Terri Chandler) looking down upon the grave that their father, the ghost-hunting star of the …
Remember when celebrity biopics were relegated to the realm of TV movies? Now they’ve become a box office staple. On any given week, it’s virtually impossible to set foot in a multiplex without having at least one celebrity impersonator from which to choose. Evangelical bamboozler Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield) never …
The memory board photos that adorn the opening credits looked too real to be Photoshopped. Sure enough, this is the genuine thing, a family affair built around the Basco Brothers, Philippines' answer to the 4 Marx Brothers. Duke’s (Dante Basco doing triple duty as star, writer, and director) one-take arrival …
Jean-Luc Godard was 33 when he starred in Agnes Varda’s short comedy The Fiancés of the MacDonald Bridge. That’s the same age as the photographer JR, the sole person ever to share a director’s credit with the New Wave pioneer, and also her co-star here. By Varda’s own admission, an …
Michael Moore’s output during the Obama years confirms the obvious: just as a ship needs a rudder, the director is nothing without a Republican commander-in-chief to shepherd his contempt. Still, credit Moore with finding fault in Mrs. Clinton’s pampered approach to politics. (His was the only liberal voice to predict …
Failure to protect is a charge aimed at punishing a negligent parent who failed to safeguard a child from serious harm. Years ago I worked for a woman whose ex-husband copped to twice pleasuring himself while their 4-year-old son slept next to him. Looking to remove the boy from a …
Denys Arcand’s followup to The Decline of the American Empire is more of a slow backslide. It’s lunchtime, and somewhere between Pierre-Paul’s (Alexandre Landry) railing against geniuses (bad people) and philosophers (even worse), our arrogantly insecure delivery man’s exasperated girlfriend Linda (Florence Longpré), decides to call it quits. What they …
Kate (Taylor Schilling) is a profoundly thoughtless narcissist reluctantly called into service to look after a niece (Bryn Vale) she barely knows. (Aunt Buck?) What’s more shocking than a senior level VP at a New Jersey hedge fund finding herself smack dab in the middle of a weeklong celebration of …
Why should parents sacrifice their art by having children when it’s just as easy to incorporate the kids into the act as involuntary performance artists? Jason Bateman stars in and directs this blackish comedy about a suffocating couple (Christoper Walken and Maryann Plunkett), whose guerilla-style exercises in video tomfoolery made …
No smoking in the house, if you read a book put it back where you found it, and while you’re at it, take the chance to bang one of the neighbors. Those are but three of the edicts Bruno (Cristián Carvajal) assigns his distant relative Martin (Jorge Becker) after the …