Review by James Lindorf Everyone wonders what it would be like to be someone else. To experience what it is like to be rich, famous, or a world-class athlete, for Claire, that dream goes from an obsession to a living nightmare. When regular client Olivia (Brea Grant)...
Greetings again from the darkness. “We are all writing our ‘Maybe’ book.” So says National Book Award winner Tim O’Brien, the renowned war story author best known for his groundbreaking 1990 book, “The Things They Carried.” The book was based on his experiences in the...
Greetings again from the darkness. Could you tell a story that lasts all night? What if you were standing on a box in front of a few hundred rowdy inmates? What if your life depended on it? Writer-director Phillippe Lacote (RUN, 2015) opens the film with an aerial...
Greetings again from the darkness. Brothers Anthony Russo and Joe Russo are known for their work with Marvel, including, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, and AVENGERS: INFIINITY WAR. This time they tackle a stylish crime-thriller based on the Nico Walker novel, and adapted for the...
Greetings again from the darkness. The best thrillers often interweave multiple story lines to create a complex web of detail for viewers to unwind. Writer-director Nicholas Jarecki (ARBITRAGE, 2012) serves up three story lines, all related to the current Opioid...
Greetings again from the darkness. For anyone who still believes documentaries are dry and boring, the cure is this latest from Jonathan Blank, a filmmaker who returns to Holland 25 years after his first documentary, SEX, DRUGS & DEMOCRACY (1994). Entertaining and...
BY James Lindorf Poverty has a way of locking people into place. It can limit how much of the world we see and the potential we see in ourselves. Exploring beyond your block, experiencing different cultures and ways of life opens not only eyes but a world of...
Greetings again from the darkness. Part ‘Frankenstein’ and part parable for parenting is how I’ve always thought of the story of Pinocchio. In this latest version, director and co-writer (with Massimo Ceccherini) Matteo Garrone adds a splash “Alice in Wonderland” to...
Greetings again from the darkness. Traditional beauty is nowhere to be found in filmmaker Chloe Zhao’s extraordinary film adapted (by Ms. Zhao) from Jessica Bruder’s 2017 award-winning book, “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century”. There are no...
Greetings again from the darkness. Contrary to what one might assume, bringing entertaining, silly slapstick comedy to the screen is actually quite difficult. This is director Edward Hall’s first feature film, as his career has been mostly in TV series work and on...