Güeros is the kind of movie that makes you homesick. On the one hand, it makes you feel an inevitable nostalgia based upon reminiscences of sensations, tribulations, percolations probably taken for granted before they were missed for the first time. Voices, tones, phrasings of a City that homes you as much as it repels you….
After the historic (and surprising) success of the original “Ride Along” in 2014, there were immediate rumors about a forthcoming sequel. The Ice Cube and Kevin Hart vehicle boasted the highest opening weekend gross ever in the month of January, bringing in over $154 million dollars. Kevin Hart’s rock star comedy presence sent the film…
Filmed in stop-motion animation, Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman’s (“Synecdoche, New York”) Anomalisa is a look at loneliness and its psychological effects. Filled with existential despair, it is also funny, surreal, and thought-provoking, a film that can touch you in ways you never thought possible. Nominated for Best Animated film at the 2016 Oscars and…
Based on a short story by Katha Pollit, a columnist for the Nation magazine, Learning to Drive is a small movie with a big heart. While the film is risk averse and will not be mistaken for a timeless work of art, its story of two middle-aged people of vastly different backgrounds assisting each other…
Every Christmas season, two categories of people emerge from their Thanksgiving comas: Those who identify with Buddy the elf and those who identify with the Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge. Some start listening to Christmas music before Halloween; some “Bah, humbug!” their way through shopping malls and tree lots. Yet, there’s also the forgotten few who…
After a two year gap, Pixar made a triumphant return to big screens a few months ago with the magnificent “Inside Out,” a funny, heartfelt, beautiful, film which should be the pole-sitter for this year’s top animated film (and it could even be nominated in the Best Picture and Screenplay category — yes, it’s that…
I suppose it’s a generational thing that a lot of younger critics seem to adore the newest film by Jonathan Levine (“50/50,” “Warm Bodies”), The Night Before. I mean when I think of harmless Christmas comedies, my mind conjures up movies like “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” or “Home Alone,” among others. So when did foul…
