London in the swinging 60s. A time of glamour. A place of dreams. An era of magic, cruelty and abuse. Wait, what? That’s right, Edgar Wright’s (the Cornetto Trilogy, “Baby Driver”) latest film, Last Night in Soho, largely eschews the lighthearted tone of his previous work, delivering a tale that is dark, gruesome and visceral,…
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…
Ah, Christmas. A time of Hallmark cinematic splendor, candy canes, and Bath and Body Works candles, it truly can be (to some) the most wonderful time of the year. But what does Hollywood have to offer? Well, with cheaper competition from Netflix and Hallmark, there aren’t as many Christmas-themed gifts put under the movie theater…
In 2019’s Downton Abbey, creator Julian Fellowes succinctly blends the bold episodic wit of the “Downton Abbey” television series with charm and grandeur — the latter playing wonderfully on the silver screen. A mix of fan service and carefully scripted royal drama, the film is an exquisite homage to the six-season British TV mainstay. Playing…
The Beatles are one of the most iconic, influential and beloved musicians, or indeed creative artists, of all time. As well as producing such bestselling albums as “The White Album,” “Abbey Road” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the Fab Four have been the subject of films, books, museums and anecdotes. They put Liverpool…
Mary Queen of Scots, Josie Rourke’s interpretation of rival queens in the 16th century is stilted and anticlimactic, with poor pacing and a weak screenplay that casts a rather conspicuous shadow over its two prominent leads, Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”) and Margot Robbie (“I, Tonya”). Rourke, long affiliated with the London stage (she’s the artistic…
Based on the memoir by Garrard Conley and set in rural Arkansas, Australian director Joel Edgerton`s (“The Gift”) Boy Erased tells the moving story of Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges, “Lady Bird”), an 18-year-old gay college student and his struggle for self-acceptance in the face of rejection by those whose support he desperately needs. Raised in…
