Writer/director Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”) puts a contemporary spin on Louisa May Alcott’s nineteenth century classic novel in Little Women, now in its eight film version. Alcott’s semi-autobiographical story about four sisters growing up in Concord, Massachusetts during and after the Civil War stands out for its warmth and celebration of family, its exquisite period…
“Everyone has lots of ways of feeling. And all of those feelings are fine. It’s what we do with our feelings that matter in this life.” — Fred Rogers Loosely based on Tom Junod’s 1998 Esquire article on children’s television personality Fred Rogers, “Can You Say . . . Hero?,” Marielle Heller’s (“Can You Ever…
The signs for Live by Night are promising. Ben Affleck’s previous directorial offerings — “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town,” “Argo” — showed ever increasing confidence and skill. The period gangster sub-genre has delivered such classics as “The Godfather,” “The Godfather: Part II” and “Once Upon a Time in America.” The source material, Dennis Lehane’s epic,…
There exists no alternative in critiquing James Steven Sadwith’s Coming Through the Rye without first discussing the novel which both its title and story derives from. Personally speaking, I never finished reading The Catcher in the Rye. Despite the national uproar that the novel stirred by its addition to school curriculums in the United States,…
You’ve probably been through it: You’ve just managed to make your way through your pockets and reached six to seven quarters in the midst of keys and keychains and used gum wrappers, get them into the coin slot of the vending machine, anticipating with your wet tongue the promised relief of your favorite snack when…
A studio-mandated sequel to a weak-at-best film only made to hold onto the rights to a cash cow property, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a movie so pre-packaged and risk-averse that the only surprise it holds comes from the fact it is, against all odds, even worse than this dubious pedigree would suggest. Scotch taped…
In previous looks for Marvel Studio’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Electro had been getting all the attention. But in the latest (and final) trailer, Green Goblin and Rhino are making a bigger impact. It’s quite the refreshing impact too as Spidey, in several extended scenes, is locked in frantic battles with them (I was also…
