The Present is a fun, yet flawed, movie that combines two familiar genres — the family movie, and science-fiction — for an enjoyable enough time for anyone who might be scrolling through their favorite streaming service looking for an easy watch. This low-budget indie comes from “Love, Rosie” director, Christian Ditter, and “Get Hard” writer,…
“Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved” — Victor Hugo Winner of the Golden Lion Award at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, Audrey Diwan’s (“Losing It”) harrowing abortion drama Happening takes place in rural France during the 1960s, a decade before abortion was legalized in France. Based on the memoir by Annie…
If your children suggest that you operate within “your zone of resiliency,” you might want to look into what soap opera they’ve been watching, or whether they have gotten their hands on a convoluted movie script, the sort readily available in Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”) C’mon C’mon, a film inspired by Mills’ relationship with…
In German director Thor Freudenthal’s (“Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”) deeply-moving Words on Bathroom Walls, high-school student Adam Petrazelli (Charlie Plummer, “All the Money in the World”) lives in a world without silence. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, the voices in his head never stop, interfering with his ability to function and endangering his need to graduate…
Remember “Yes Man”? The 2008 Peyton Reed directed comedy, starring Jim Carrey, in his last great comedic leading role (in my opinion), as Carl — a man who obstinately says “No” to everything until he met a self-help guru who tells him to switch his “No” to “Yes.” This effectively simple word leads to amazing…
Why am I here? What is the meaning of my existence? What happens when I die? What is the mind? What is my personality? Why am I? Deep and profound questions, well suited to a long cinematic chin-stroker such as Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Solaris” and Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.” Or a swift, snappy animated…
Onward, the latest animated adventure from the studio that seemingly can do no wrong, Pixar, kinda does. It is a mediocre effort overall, but still a further reminder of the studio’s status as a master heartstring-tugger. In the end, that’s where the studio excels and the way Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin’s story…
