film
MENASHE film review
– By Cate Marquis – MENASHE is a heartfelt Yiddish-language drama about a widowed Hasidic Jewish father man trying to regain custody of his son. Director Joshua Weinstein gives us an intriguing glimpse inside New York’s Hasidic community, although it is not always an affectionate one. Still, this is an excellent little film that…
THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD film review
– By Mark Glass – THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD has all the first-rate action and humor of Deadpool without needing to know superhero lore to get the jokes. After many films, the first time I truly enjoyed a Ryan Reynolds performance was in last year’s hilarious spoof of all things Marvel and superheroesque, DEADPOOL. He…
LOGAN LUCKY film review
– By Mark Glass – LOGAN LUCKY’s redneck variation on Ocean’s Eleven and other slick caper flicks makes crime pay – at least for the viewers. If light-hearted heist films like OCEAN’S ELEVEN or THE ITALIAN JOB (either the originals or re-makes of both) were stripped of their glamorous settings and star power, this…
THE WOMEN’S BALCONY film review
– By Cate Marquis – Charming and warm, the Israeli comedy “The Women’s Balcony” entertains but also captures an appealing feeling of community, and even family, that being part of a religious congregation can bring. It is no small feat. That sense of a close, happy congregation was inspired by screenwriter Shlomit Nehama’s own…
13 MINUTES film review
– By Cate Marquis – We all know there were attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Germany late in World War II but what if he had been assassinated in November 1939? Think how history would have changed, particularly for Jews. Such as assassination attempt actually was made, by a lone man using a…
LADY MACBETH film review
– By Cate Marquis – Director William Oldroyd’s LADY MACBETH is not Shakespeare but it is certainly Shakespearean in its bloody mix of murder and sex. The story is not about Shakespeare’s murderously ambitious character but is based on a 19th century Russian novel, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” by Nikolai Leskov, inspired…
ATOMIC BLONDE film review (Mark Glass)
– By Mark Glass – There’s a guy named David Leitch who’s been a stunt man on over 80 action flicks; shared directing duties on a slew of others including JOHN WICK, JURASSIC WORLD, two Ninja Turtle films, and other major horror, sci-fi and comedy fare; even more noteworthy, he’s been given the helm…
THE HERO film review
– By Cate Marquis – Sometimes one role can define an actor’s career. Sam Elliott plays such an actor in late life, facing his own mortality and coming to grips with his life and career, in the sometimes funny, sometimes touching drama THE HERO. THE HERO is an intimate personal drama that draws on universal…
THE BEGUILED film review
– By Cate Marquis – Sophia Coppola’s atmospheric period thriller THE BEGUILED is a re-make of a 1971 psycho-sexual thriller starring Clint Eastwood. Coppola re-frames the Civil War story from a woman’s viewpoint, where a wounded Union soldier is taken in by a house full of Southern women and girls at a young ladies’ boarding…
BABY DRIVER film review – by Mark Glass
Don’t judge this slam-bang action flick by its title. “Baby” (Ansel Elgort) is a kid who looks like he’s barely legal behind the wheel, but handles getaway cars like The Transporter series’ Jason Statham’s adolescent clone. The opening chase scene rivals anything Statham or Vin Diesel’s Fast & Furious franchise has served up to their…