The balance between innovation and homage is a difficult one to strike. This is especially so when dealing with established and beloved properties. Spider-Man: No Way Home takes on the formidable task of balancing the demands of a standalone film, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and the wider presence of Spider-Man in cinema and popular…
Latest on the slate from Blumhouse Productions — known for their mostly neutered horror flicks (“Unfriended: Dark Web,” “Truth or Dare,” “Happy Death Day,” to name a few of the more recent ones) — is Fantasy Island, a retooling of a campy, Aaron Spelling produced television show. And much like that late 70s to early…
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…
Gone are the days of 1970s-style “Jiggle TV” . . . you know, that endearing media term reserved for the boob-tube, pop-cultural guilty pleasure that the late mega-television producer Aaron Spelling eagerly supplied to prime time viewers? With it, the ABC network struck a goldmine with the curvy, cops-turned-private investigators from the Townsend Agency in…
A breathtaking fantastical journey through the height of Hollywood’s most reputable and rebellious era is simultaneously a justified and monotonous way to describe Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. Seeing classic views of the golden age of Tinseltown through the lens of the enigmatic and sometimes overbearing filmmaker is shocking…
Two teenagers walk along the Charles Bridge in Prague, and as they do so their fingers brush and they nearly take hold of each other’s hands. Nearly, but not quite, as teen awkwardness gets in the way and they lack the maturity to express themselves. This is a tiny moment in Spider-Man: Far From Home,…
Is it possible to do questionable things for a noble cause? Well, veteran director Catherine Hardwicke (“Twilight”) and first-time full feature screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer clumsily answer that thematic question with Miss Bala, an Americanized reshaping of a 2011 Spanish-language tale with the same name. Their vision replays similar story beats as the original, but lacks…
