Review: Boseman, Davis play right notes in ‘Ma Rainey’

Chadwick Boseman in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." When word broke that Chadwick Boseman had died of cancer on Aug. 28, 2020, the world gasped in shock. Boseman was riding high, with his marvelous work on “Black Panther” catapulting him to global stardom. Then word came that he had a final movie in the can, a …

Review: ‘Black Messiah’ doesn’t betray filmgoing experience

In historical dramas, it is hard to generate tension because we know the end result…

Review: ‘One Night,’ four legends, two hours of excellence

(Writer) Powers lets his imagination run and the result is a stunning script that explores the complexities concealed beneath the quartet's public image.

Review: ‘Nomadland’ hits road to Oscar nod

There’s an old joke that actor X is so good I would pay to watch them read the phone book. In McDormand’s case, she is so good I would pay to watch her read it silently to herself.

Review: No need to ‘Pretend,’ Fran is a treat

Netflix’s “Pretend It’s a City” is three-and-a-half hours of unadulterated fun spread over seven episodes, which leaves one wondering, “How come no one thought of doing this before?”

Review: ‘Mank’ is homage to one man’s genius — and it’s not Welles

“Mank,” is a terrific homage to old Hollywood that is tailor-made for the film buff.

Making A Killing

Here is my analysis of "The Price of Everything" and "Velvet Buzzsaw," two recently streaming films that take different looks at the high-end art market. Click here for the web version and on the image below for the March 2019 ISSUE magazine pages.

Review: ‘Roma’ is Cuarón’s masterpiece of memoir

The opening credits of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” feature water sloshing across a tile floor, wave after wave. This foreshadows what is really the only “dramatic” moment of what is effectively a slow burn. The water flows, cleaning what we later find, is the constant dog shit that covers the driveway of the family home in …

Review: ‘A Very English Scandal’ combines pathos, humor in tale of politics and class

For the want of a National Insurance Card, a political career is lost. In a real-life tale that features high English political figures and bumbling assassins worthy of a Coen Brothers movie, “A Very British Scandal” tells the story of Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe’s fall from grace after being accused of trying to kill …

Review: ‘A Quiet Place’ is silent surprise

May contain spoilers Ssshhhh… The horror movie genre is the source of some innovative film making lately and, following on the success of “Get Out,” which picked up an Oscar for Jordan Peele’s screenplay, “A Quiet Place” is a taut and clever entry into the field. Directed, co-written (with Scott Beck and Bryan Woods) and …