Referred to as “the man who puts the fear of God into psychics,” retired magician James Randi could just as easily have made a name for himself bilking money out of seance-happy oldsters eager to be reacquainted with their dead pets. He has instead spent the greater portion of his …
Shia LaBeouf’s self-penned biopic turns out to be the biggest surprise of 2019. With expert assurance, the opening shot yanks us into the action without even bothering to use a stunt double.A simulated blast sucks tethered movie star Otis (Noah Jupe, age 12; Lucas Hedges, age 22) deep within the …
What began with his mother reanimating frozen goldfish eventually leads a Buddhist scientist from Bangkok to believe it possible to cryo-preserve the brain of his two-year-old daughter who succumbed to cancer. We all grieve in our own way, why shouldn’t keeping fingers cryogenically crossed be one of them? The kid’s …
The title serves double-duty: a cove tucked under the cliffs of Seaford that bookends the action and that indelicate emotional space between exceedingly erudite lovers who have experienced their last gasp of romance. Grace (Annette Bening) is surprised to learn their son Jamie (Josh O’Connor) didn’t call his mother to …
Why would a civilian war correspondent risk life and limb to send home pictorial confirmation of government-sanctioned brutality? David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud’s harrowing documentary The Hornet’s Nest answers the question. Mike Boettcher’s 34 years of dedication to his job as network correspondent helped earn him enough Absentee Father of …
Tara Subkoff (All Over Me,The Cell) moves behind the camera to write and direct this based-on-true-events cult horror entry for IFC Midnight. After one of the zippiest title sequences in recent memory, six well-heeled twelve-year-old girls settle in for a sleepover in a mansion where “the vortex of the four …
This one had been high atop my must-see list, ever since Scorsese dubbed it his favorite film of the ‘90s. (Though made in 1985, it took some time for it to wash up on American shores.) And for years, it was available only in botched pan-and-scan video transfers. According to …
A callous American doctor stationed at a military facility in Seoul orders an underling to dispose of formaldehyde by pouring it down the sink, never once stopping to consider the havoc it might wreak once the toxic chemicals reach the water system. It’s on this basis of fact that Bong …
It’s being sold as a “very relevant thriller...about a segment of our population who want to embrace the American Dream, but their hope is shattered by unfortunate circumstances.” First-time director Michael Dwyer pushes hard to elicit sympathy, but the unfortunate truth is our young undocumented martyr’s idea of embracing the …
Fans of Adam Sandler will want to have a neighbor read them the following: the latest from Sony Pictures Animation has all the stylistic innovation and visual niceties of a Count Chocula commercial. An unduly protective vampire daddy (Sandler) who runs a restricted resort — the clientele is limited to …
Sony’s episodic, dialogue-driven, animated series on vampirism for youngsters rolls on with a third installment, this one set aboard a 20-story ocean liner. Hideous background and character design ahead, captain: the animation is so claustrophobic, one would swear that it was filmed entirely on a Hollywood soundstage. Were those Gremlins …
Sony’s episodic, dialogue-driven, animated series on vampirism for youngsters rolls on with a third installment, this one set aboard a 20-story ocean liner. Hideous background and character design ahead, captain: the animation is so claustrophobic, one would swear that it was filmed entirely on a Hollywood soundstage. Were those Gremlins …
The genius of replacing the Columbia Pictures torch lady with an antifreeze Jell-O mold lasted long enough for incest to set in. With daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) of marrying age, her relationship with daddy Dracula (Adam Sandler’s out, Brian Hull’s in) has matured from electral love to borderline inbreeding. (Drac …
For a guy who has spent the better portion of his life playing cinephilic matchmaker, this about-face ring-up endures as a marriage made in “Hell.” “Quick! Turn on channel 9,” the voice on the other end of the line commanded. “You gotta see the way the dad catches the football.” …
In an egregious example of shoot-now-figure-it-out-later filmmaking, documentarian Brett Story spent the month crisscrossing the five boroughs of New York, asking regular folk to comment on the future. It would have taken some doing to find a less engaging group of interview subjects. Or is it the lack of time …