“Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole” — Derek Walcott To French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, the ocean is a “holy temple,” a shimmering presence that reflects the economic and social aspirations of people seeking a better life….
There’s only one movie in theaters this holiday season where you can see tap, ballet, hip-hop, and other dance styles performed by CGI cat-people (or are they people-cats?) and you can bet it’s not the latest Star Wars movie. It’s also not exactly good, at least in the way that nearly everyone who watches movies…
A franchise’s future often lies in its past. The narrative need to look back upon the legacy of a series starter and the history of its characters provides a clear entry point for many sequels that may otherwise struggle to justify their existence beyond merely financial reasons. It’s a strategy used to moving effect in…
Edward Norton is an odd duck. When he burst onto the scene with 1996’s “Primal Fear,” he matched beats with more seasoned stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Francis McDormand, and earned an Oscar nomination for his trouble. Subsequent roles in “American History X,” “Fight Club” and “25th Hour” led to him being hailed as…
Once upon a time (in 2017), a movie was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. Filled to the brim with stars like Richard Gere and Peter Dinklage, it promised to spin a cinematic tale based upon a famous psychiatric case study (The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach) that involved complex elements of…
“Be me, then be yourself,” so says Chuck Knoach (Ben Lloyd-Hughes, “Me Before You”), a best-selling self-help guru who has an avid fan in Lou (Katy Brayben, “Luther” TV series) a 30-something woman with a dead-end job and a suffocating mother (Sarah Ball, “Doctors” TV series) for a housemate. As we see her enjoying rare…
Inherit the Viper is about two brothers and one sister who run an opioid ring in the Appalachias. It stars Josh Hartnett (“The Ottoman Lieutenant”) as Kip, the oldest brother; Margarita Levieva (“Sleeping With Other People”) as Josie, the sister, and Owen Teague (“Mary”) as Boots, the little brother. Kip and Josie are the local…
