Freeze Frame

“Freaky Friday” meets “Friday the 13th” in the bloody R-rated horror comedy, “Freaky.”  Vince Vaughn plays a deranged serial killer who supernaturally switches bodies with a mousey teenager. While “Freaky” doesn’t quite live up to its wacky promise, Vaughn milks his dual role for all its comic worth.   Mel Gibson plays Santa Claus…you heard […]

Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play a retired couple who attempt to rescue their grandson from a rural North Dakota family in the harrowing drama “Let Him Go,” based on a novel by Larry Watson. Leslie Manville memorably chews the scenery as the cultish family’s domineering matriarch. Violent and a bit lurid, “Let Him Go” […]

If you took a typical Hallmark Channel Christmas romantic comedy and added in plenty foul language and crude sexual banter, you might come up with something like the off-putting Netflix offering, “Holidate.” Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey star in the story of two singles who decide to use one another as a non-intimate date on […]

“Rebecca,” a Netflix remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic suspense drama is a handsomely produced but uninspired adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel. Armie Hammer and Lily James star in this dark gothic romance that checks all of the appropriate boxes but can’t match the 1940 Best Picture Oscar winner, which can be seen for free […]

Oscar-winning filmmaker Aaron Sorkin offers one of the year’s finest movies, “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” This surprisingly timely drama covers the infamous case in which peace activists were tried for allegedly inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Sasha Baron Coen, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance are part of a great cast […]

Bill Murray re-teams with “Lost in Translation” filmmaker Sophia Coppola for the disarming comedy, “On the Rocks.” Rashida Jones plays a woman who fears her husband, played by Marlon Wayans, may be cheating on her. Her pushy ne’er do well father, played by Murray, manipulates her into spying on her spouse. There’s a lot more […]

The life of feminist icon Gloria Steinem is given the art house treatment in Julie Taymor’s overambitious biography, “The Glorias.” Four actresses play Steinem in various stages of her life, including Oscar winners Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore. While it’s illuminating and relevant, the film skims the surface while indulging in some unnecessary and pretentious […]

If nothing else, you’ll have to admit that the comic drama “Kajillionaire” is not the same old thing. This quirky and gentle movie stars Evan Rachel Wood as an emotionally stunted young woman who works as a petty scam artist with her parents, Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger. Things get complicated when they invite a […]

Pop superstar and Kansas City native Janelle Monáe stars in “Antebellum,” a bizarre horror entry with significant social overtones. Monáe plays a slave on a plantation in the Civil War South…or is she a renowned author living today? This well acted but enigmatic film doesn’t make much sense until the final scenes when the film […]

“The Broken Hearts Gallery” is a cute, maybe too cute romantic comedy for millennials that exists in an otherworldly rom-com dimension. Geraldine Viswanathan plays a young woman who saves mementos from her many failed romances and turns them into a gallery exhibit. Can she ever find true love? What do you think? The cast is […]

Christopher Nolan’s mind-boggling sci-fi action thriller “Tenet” begs to be seen on the big screen. It also begs to have subtitles. While it’s involving and visually dazzling, the confounding time-inversion plotline is further muddled by an obtrusive soundtrack and heavy accents. John David Washington and Kevin Branagh do an impressive job of navigating their tricky […]

  “The Personal History of David Copperfield” is a fanciful reimagining of Charles Dickens’ classic novel. Dev Patel takes the title role in this quirky adaptation, an offbeat but fresh, exuberant and mostly comic take from writer/director Armando Iannucci, the man behind TV’s “Veep.” Purists may balk, but many viewers will be captivated by this […]

Oscar winning filmmaker Kevin Willmott’s drama “The 24th” is a harrowing depiction of the intolerable racism that led to the 1917 mutiny of an all-black US infantry division. Trai Byers leads a solid cast in this true story that ably illuminates a dark episode in American history.   Russell Crowe’s bloodcurdling performance fuels “Unhinged,” a […]

The star power of Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the only thing powering Netflix’s “Project Power,” a silly, overblown sci-fi action flick about a street drug that provides short-lived superpowers. The premise showed promise, but the plot gets goofier as it goes along. Try not to laugh.   “Endless” is a morose paranormal romance […]

“An American Pickle” is a ‘stranger-in-a-strange-land’ comic fantasy starring Seth Rogan in dual roles. He plays an immigrant worker accidentally brined in a pickle vat 100 years in ago. When he miraculously awakens, he meets his only living descendant, his great-grandson, also played by Rogan. “An American Pickle” is a surprisingly sentimental look at the […]

“Upside-Down Magic” is a “Harry Potter” wannabe aimed at an even younger demographic. This Disney Channel movie, based on the Scholastic book series, is about students who attend a school for kids with the gift of magic, but the story concentrates on the struggles of four misfits who are ostracized because their magical powers don’t […]

Rosamund Pike’s solid performance is the main attraction of the arthouse biopic, “Radioactive,” the story of Madame Curie and her discovery of radium. Scenes that jump forward in time to illustrate the ultimate effects of her pioneering work are awkward and heavy handed. But “Radioactive” still serves as an informative primer about the world’s first […]

Nia Long and Omar Epps star in the predictable and overly familiar Netflix thriller, “Fatal Affair.” Long plays a lawyer who becomes the unwilling object of obsession for the smart but psychologically disturbed Epps. While shamefully derivative, the earnest performances from Long and Epps make “Fatal Affair” a moderately tense little time waster. Search the […]

“Greyhound” is a fast-paced WWII Naval battle flick starring and written by Tom Hanks. He plays the captain of a destroyer assigned to escort commercial vessels through parts of the Atlantic teeming with Nazi subs. The tension is derived from cat-and-mouse skirmishes with invisible enemies. While no dog, “Greyhound” is at best a modest, workmanlike […]

“Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop history lesson about a founding father may be the most unlikely hit musical of all time. The Disney+ ‘live capture’ version of the original Broadway production more than lives up to the hype. While no filmed play can capture the electricity of a live performance, “Hamilton” comes close. Miranda and director […]

Comedian and commentator Jon Stewart steps behind the camera for the second time with the political satire, “Irresistible.” Steve Carell stars as a big time Democratic strategist who gets involved in a small-town mayoral race. The oversized role of money in politics is the movie’s main target. While it generates some laughs, “Irresistible” lacks the […]

If a claustrophobic thriller is what you’re looking for, the airline hijack movie “7500” fills the bill. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a mild-mannered pilot fending off terrorists wielding glass knives. All of the action takes place in the  plane’s cockpit. Gordon-Levitt is solid and the filmmakers strive for realism over melodrama. While tense and well […]

Oscar winners Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott reunite for an intriguing and timely drama, “Da 5 Bloods.” This Netflix movie is about aging African American Vietnam vets who return to that country to retrieve the remains of a fallen brother and a fortune in gold they left behind. Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman lead a […]

As our local cinemas are still temporarily closed, this week’s Freeze Frame will concentrate on NEW movies that can be streamed at home. Elisabeth Moss, easily one of the best actresses working today, turns in yet another impressive portrayal the drama “Shirley.” This fictionalized biopic focuses on a difficult period in the life of acclaimed […]

In the new Netflix romantic comedy “The High Note” Dakota Johnson portrays the hardworking assistant of a famous and demanding pop star. Tracee Ellis Ross plays the music diva in a role that might -or might not- be inspired by her famous mom, Diana Ross. Ice Cube is the hard-as-nails manager. “The High Note” is […]