#Tommaso Movie Review

“Tommaso” What becomes of a damaged and destructive man after he works to fix himself? What becomes of his art? His relationships? His life? Abel Ferrara’s “Tommaso” explores those questions and others with blunt honesty, never pretending it has the answers.  I love this movie. Adore it. Can’t stop talking about it to my friends….

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#Judy & Punch Movie Review

“Judy & Punch” “Judy & Punch” is about a megalomaniac, self-aggrandizing con man whose primary motivation is riling up his audiences so he can bask in their adoration and applause. He is merciless in the verbal and emotional abuse he inflicts upon the people he supposedly loves, and he has the sociopathic tendency of believing…

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#Hammer Movie Review

“Hammer” There are two movies that weave in and out of “Hammer.” One is a domestic drama about a father who has no idea how to help his troubled son, and so has pushed him out of his life. The thinking among parents is often that exclusion will lead to healing. Let kids go through…

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#Be Water Movie Review

“Be Water” “Be Water” is the latest in the acclaimed ESPN “30 for 30” series. Its inclusion is intriguing because I never really considered its subject, Bruce Lee, to be a sports figure, though the film cleverly juxtaposes footage of him with footage of Muhammad Ali. To me, he was always a spectacular action movie…

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#Yourself and Yours Movie Review

“Yourself and Yours” “Yourself and Yours,” the latest black comedy by Korean writer/director Sangsoo Hong to receive an American theatrical release (it was filmed in 2016, and released later that year, as well as in 2017), is an exhausting, and mostly frustrating display of emotional scab-picking. Which is disappointing, though not quite unexpected, given that…

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#Becky Movie Review

“Becky” Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott like to subvert horror expectations like having kids be the centerpiece of a violent zombie movie like “Cooties” or the unbroken shot structure of “Bushwick.” I’m not sure which counts as the subversion more in their latest, “Becky”—that it boasts Kevin James’ first dramatic role or that it’s an…

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#Mighty Oak Movie Review

“Mighty Oak” Kids might be into generic rock ‘n’ roll, and playing guitar, but do they dig reincarnation? That’s what director Sean McNamara is hoping with his hollow “Mighty Oak,” which is making movie history by being Paramount Pictures’ first theatrical release since quarantine.  Tommy Ragen appears in the movie as Oak, a 10-year-old guitar player and…

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#2040 Movie Review

“2040” If Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” was 90 percent terrifying with 10 percent at the end providing a little hope about the future of the planet, “2040” reverses the percentages. An Australian dad (writer/director Damon Gameau) imagines what life could be like for his 4-year-old daughter 20 years from now with a…

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#Dreamland Movie Review

“Dreamland” Bruce McDonald’s “Dreamland” is a half-remembered nightmare. It’s full of incomprehensible flashes of striking imagery, most of which won’t make sense in the morning. But in the moment you’re watching “Dreamland,” you’ll feel the restlessness of its messy story, the fitful starts-and-stops of its erratic editing and the leaden quality of its action sequences,…

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#The Collini Case Movie Review

“The Collini Case” What if a legal system designed to carry out justice for all failed to recognize unspeakable crimes and left countless victims of hate abandoned along the way? This isn’t just one of the many questions on our country’s collective consciousness right now. It is also the query at the center of “The…

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