Review: ‘All the Money in the World’ buys suspense but not family

There is something a little disconcerting when one starts seeing a number of “period” films released based on actual events that one remembers clearly. It reminds me of the first time I heard an REM song on the oldies channel — “But that’s not old?!” “All the Money in the World” is set in 1973 …

Review: Spectacular musical numbers undone by weak story in “The Greatest Showman”

The curtain opens on a silhouette of a ringmaster as the music plays. The figure dances underneath packed bleachers before ending up in the spotlight, surrounded by a colorful cast of characters spectacularly dancing and flying from ropes and trapeze wires. This is the opening of the “The Greatest Showman” and is it a visual …

Review: McDormand seethes and shines in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Armed with a trusty Movie Pass card, the quest begins to see all the potential Oscar nominees prior to the February ceremony.  Seven months after the violent death of her daughter, Mildred Hayes, stunningly played by Frances McDormand, rents “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — on a road that no one uses since the freeway …

The Grand Tour II: Great Scott, What a Monument

EDINBURGH — Nowadays, it is hard to imagine a world where a writer is lauded and praised, and treated of as one would treat a rock or movie star today. Yet, Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish novelist who wrote “Ivanhoe” and “Rob Roy,” was so beloved that an enormous monument to his memory sits in …

The Grand Tour II: Inverary No Drafty Old Castle

INVERARY, Scotland — Not all the castles in Scotland are drafty examples of medieval austerity. A case in point is the ancestral home of the Dukes of Argyll, chiefs of the clan Campbell. The current Inverary Castle, inspired by Vanbrugh, the architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, is relatively new, completed in 1789, although …