Freeze Frame

The last time that actor Kumail Nanjiani teamed with director Michael Showalter, the result was the brilliant and moving 2017 comic drama, “The Big Sick.” Their new collaboration, “The Lovebirds,” is a Netflix romantic comedy-slash-action flick that isn’t nearly as successful. Nanjiani and Issa Rae play a couple in a tenuous relationship whose bickering takes […]

Tom Hardy’s gonzo performance is the main draw for “Capone,” now available on Amazon Prime. This experimental movie concentrates on the last hellish year of the infamous mobster’s life when he was suffering from dementia and his body was wracked with syphilis. Did he actually hide millions in cash? That’s what his family, associates and […]

“Becoming” is a new Netflix documentary featuring former First Lady Michelle Obama. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at her 2018 34-city book tour promoting her memoir, “Becoming.” The film consists of snippets from her appearances at sold-out arenas, mixed with interview clips, scenes from her meetings with community organizations, book signings and occasional personal asides.   […]

As our local cinemas are still temporarily closed, this week’s Freeze Frame will concentrate on NEW movies that can be streamed at home.   Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney give terrific performances in the strange but true HBO film, “Bad Education.” Jackman plays a popular Long Island school superintendent who was in charge when millions […]

Chris Hemsworth is a conflicted action hero in the excessively violent Netflix thriller, “Extraction.” Hemsworth plays a super skillful mercenary who is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an Indian gangster who has been spirited off to Bangladesh. Heralded stuntman Sam Hargrave makes his directorial debut and brings some jaw-dropping stunt sequences to vivid […]

The Netflix original drama “Tigertail” is a low-key family drama about a strained father-daughter relationship. Chinese-American actor Tzi Ma, who may be best known for his recent role in “The Farewell,” plays Grover, an immigrant from Taiwan who can’t seem to make an emotional connection with his adult daughter Angela, played by Kristine Ko. In […]

As our local cinemas are still temporarily closed, this week’s Freeze Frame will concentrate on new movies that can be streamed at home.   “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always” now available through video on demand platforms like Amazon Prime, is one of those quiet human dramas that critics rave about and general audiences often scratch their […]

As our local cinemas are still temporarily closed, this week’s Freeze Frame will concentrate on new movies that can be streamed at home. The raunchy Netflix original comedy “Coffee & Kareem” is shamefully wrong-headed and beneath the talent and dignity of its able cast. Ed Helms plays Officer James Coffee, a bungling Detroit cop who’s […]

Since most of our local cinemas are temporarily closed, this week’s Freeze Frame will focus on three “feel good” films currently available to stream at home, ones that can provide some uplift in trying times.   Available on Amazon Prime, “The Big Sick” might, at first blush, sound like something from the Lifetime Network, but […]

Due to the fact that most of our local cinemas are temporarily closing in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak, this week’s Freeze Frame will focus on brand new movies that are available to stream on home streaming services. “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker” is a 3-hour Netflix miniseries about America’s […]

“The Hunt” is an ultra-violent, pitch black satire that’s trying to tap into the zeitgeist. In a contemporary reworking of “The Most Dangerous Game,” a group of wealthy liberal elites entrap citizens with hard right political beliefs and then hunt them down like game. Betty Gilpin from “GLOW” leads the cast as an Afghan War […]

Second-rate Pixar movies are still better than most of their animated rivals. “Onward” is a likable comic fantasy aimed at boys in the same way that “Frozen” was aimed at girls. Chris Pratt and Tom Holland provide the voices for brother elves from an otherworldly suburbia who embark on a magical quest. It’s funny and […]

A riveting, Oscar-caliber performance from Elizabeth Moss anchors an effective and scary reimagining of the horror chestnut, “The Invisible Man.” Flipping the script to make the victim the focus instead of the title character, this update works as a full-blooded horror film as well as an effective commentary on social issues like bullying and the […]

“The Call of the Wild” is at least the ninth adaptation of the classic Jack London novel about the adventures of a dog named Buck, set during the Yukon Gold Rush iof the 1890s. Harrison Ford plays John Thornton, the gruff prospector who becomes one of Buck’s multiple masters. It’s a rousing story and Ford’s […]

“Downhill” is an American remake of “Force Majeure,” a critically acclaimed Swedish film from 2014. Will Farrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus star in the story of a family on a ski vacation in the Alps. Their marriage is strained to the breaking point when Ferrell’s character engages in an act of cowardice during an avalanche. There […]

Margot Robbie’s bat-swinging performance as the Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn was probably the best thing about 2016’s comic book movie, “Suicide Squad.” Her character takes center stage in the latest entry in the extended DC Universe, “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).” Essentially an R-rated girl gang movie, “Birds of […]

Actress Sophia Lillis from the recent “It” films, moves from dealing with a scary clown to encountering a scary witch in the horror fantasy, “Gretel & Hansel,” based on the classic Brothers Grimm story. Gretel leads her little brother into the dark forest in search of sustenance only to meet up with a wretched enchantress, […]

“The Turning” is the latest in a long string of movies based on Henry James’ classic ghost story, “The Turn of the Screw.” Mackenzie Davis plays a nanny who attempts to protect two children from evil spirits. Ambiguity isn’t necessarily a fault, but “The Turning” is so vague and disjointed that it plays like a […]

After a 17-year hiatus, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are reunited in the comic action thriller, “Bad Boys for Life,” the third entry in the franchise that began in 1995. These Miami based detectives are getting long in the tooth and it shows as they’re targeted for assassination by a Mexican drug cartel. Everything about […]

Writer/director Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”) has adapted the classic Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel “Little Women” with a certain contemporary flair. The cast includes Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”), Florence Pugh (“Midsommar”), Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”), Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me By Your Name”) and Meryl Streep (“The Laundromat”).

“1917” is a stunning WWI drama that unfolds in a single shot. Two young British soldiers played by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman are sent on a desperate mission with little hope of success. They’re to cross the dangerous terrain of no man’s land to warn a British regiment not to attack German forces because […]

As we begin a new year, it’s time to look back at the best movies of 2019. Here’s the cream of the year’s cinematic crop.   10) The Farewell Awkwafina stars in a sweetly sentimental comic drama about an American woman who travels to China to visit her terminally ill grandmother.   9) The Two […]

Writer/director Greta Gerwig has pulled off a minor miracle. She’s given a modern feminist sensibility to Louisa May Alcott’s” old chestnut “Little Women,” while maintaining the appealingly traditional feel of her beloved writings. Saoirse Ronan is fine in the pivotal role of Jo March and Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern and Meryl […]

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is not the final movie in the franchise. It’s supposedly the end of the line for the Skywalker clan, though. We’ll see. Daisy Ridley is back as Rey, who uses the force to battle evil Emperor Palpatine and the murderous son of Leia and Han Solo, Kylo Ren. It’s […]

The bombing incident at Atlanta’s Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics marked the beginning of a dark time in American society. The FBI and the press were convinced that the security guard who first noticed the pipe bomb and saved many lives had actually planted the device himself in a concerted effort to be hailed […]