For a film ostensibly about people in the throes of existential crises, the characters in Under the Eiffel Tower still make a show of enjoying life’s simple pleasures. But not even classic romantic comedy clichés, the beautiful French landscape, market day montages, plates of good food, glasses of better wine, parties al fresco, acoustic guitar…
Martin Luther King’s message that people should be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character came one year too late to reach the folks encountered by black Jamaican jazz pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali, “Hidden Figures”), in his 1962 concert tour of the segregated Deep South….
“Oh, God, make small the old star-eaten blanket of the sky, that I may fold it round me and in comfort lie” — T.E. Hulme, “The Embankment” When I first heard about British director Andrew Haigh’s (“45 Years”) Lean on Pete, it sounded like a warm, cuddly drama about horses, perhaps an updated version of…
As the year ends and holidays approach, more and more Oscar bait gets churned out for Academy consideration. Lost in this glut is the release of lesser-known foreign films that get quickly shoveled into American obscurity after getting viewed by a privileged select few. Lost in Paris, sadly, will likely become of those undiscovered gems….
When writing about the death of Abraham Lincoln, poet Carl Sandburg said, “A tree is best measured when it’s down.” These words more than apply to the life of photojournalist Chris Hondros, a Getty war photographer and two-time Pulitzer finalist, who left a gaping hole in the world of journalism when he was killed by…
As of late the cinematic genre of choice happens to be the ostentatious antics of raunchy female groupings — something to feast on for the estrogen crowd. For the most part these “loose ladies of the pack” films have been profitable, whether bordering on the reputation of a box office cult hit like “Bridesmaids” or…
The Incredible Story of the Stone Boy (“La increíble historia del Niño de Piedra”) is an animated film that begins with our main character, a young girl named Marina, nonchalantly talking to a cloud. Yes, you read that right. A cloud. With a face. This cloud then gives Marina (voice of Melissa Gedeón) a ride…
