NEW TO STREAMERS, HOME VIDEO (AND IN THEATERS):
THE BANQUET--Ruth Paxton's creepy psychodrama stars Sienna Guillory (very good) as a still-grieving widow raising two troubled--and increasingly vexing--teenage daughters. The younger girl (Ruby Stokes) starts acting out--partying too much; experimenting with the opposite sex--like a typical adolescent. But it's Betsy (Jessica Alexander) who's mum's biggest headache. Deciding that her body no longer "belongs" to her, Betsy stops eating and claims she's beholden to some quasi-religious higher power. Paxton opts for a slow-burn approach, which means that things don't get really freaky (or gross) until well into the third act. But the movie ultimately rewards the patience of genre afficionados with some truly outre craziness. (Body horror specialist David Cronenberg would approve.) And screen veteran Lindsay Duncan steals every scene she's in as Guillory's commonsensical mother. (B.)
BLACKLIGHT--Liam Neeson and his "Honest Thief" director Mark Williams reteam for another -generic action flick strictly for undemanding audiences. Neeson plays a government operative fighting to dismantle Operation Unity, a shadow outfit targeting ordinary civilians. As the muckraking reporter who assists in his investigation, Emmy Raver-Lampan at least displays more spunk than a depressed-looking Aidan Quinn as Neeson's former FBI handler. The whole thing has such a perfunctory, straight-to-video feel that it's surprising anyone thought this merited a theatrical release. (C MINUS.)
THE CURSED--Sean Ellis' stylish Gothic horror flick is what a 1960's Hammer movie would look like if they were still being made today. Set in late 19th century France, the film concerns a gypsy curse placed on land baron Seamus Laurent (Alister Petrie) after he had a Romani family executed for squatting on his property. Boyd Holbrook is the pathologist brought in when Laurent's teenage son (Max Mackintosh) mysteriously vanishes, and (naturally) he's the first to utter the deathly word, "lycanthrope." Juicily atmospheric and aptly gruesome, the only downside is the actual werewolf who looks more like an extraterrestrial. (Paging Rick Baker.) Kelly Reilly, so good as Beth on Taylor Sheridan's "Yellowstone," has a relatively thankless role as Petrie's wife. (B.)
DEATH ON THE NILE--While vacationing on a posh ocean liner, eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is tasked with solving the murder of a fellow passenger, newlywed heiress Linnet Ridgeway ("Wonder Woman" Gal Gadot in civilian clothes). Since this is an Agatha Christie mystery, it's only natural that virtually the entire passenger list will become Poirot suspects. Five years after his narcoleptic "Murder on the Orient Express" reboot, Branagh returns with another star-studded Christie adaptation that was delayed nearly two years by Covid. Unlike "Orient Express" which failed to match Sidney Lumet's nonpareil 1974 Christie adaptation, this time Branagh actually improves on the previous cinematic "Nile" (John Guillerman's middling 1978 version). While the cast--which includes the wonderful Annete Bening, perennially annoying Russell Brand and newly defamed Armie Hammer--may lack the mega-watt luster of the '78 "Nile" which featured Bette Davis, David Niven, Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith, this is actually a more enjoyable iteration. I'm still not sure why Disney didn't just put it on Hulu or Disney+, though. (B MINUS.)
DOG--Channing Tatum co-directed (with Reid Carolin) and stars in this road trip buddy comedy about former Army Ranger Briggs (Tatum) and his devoted Belgian Malinois pup Lulu. Their destination is the funeral of Briggs' fellow Ranger, and because the movie is pitched largely at young audiences, the scrapes and skirmishes they get into along the way are all pretty mild (albeit mildly amusing). It's nothing special, but pleasant enough, especially if you're a dog lover or a Tatum fan. (B MINUS.)
ENCANTO--Disney's 60th animated feature is the Mouse House's latest culturally specific female empowerment fairy 'toon. ("Raya and the Last Dragon" precedes it by a mere eight months.) With a busy, if not particularly memorable song score by Lin-Manuel Miranda--currently vying for the title of "hardest working man in show business" after "In the Heights," "Vivo" and "Tick, Tock...Boom", all in 2021--the film is a feast for the eyes, but somewhat lacking in terms of story/character development. Adolescent protagonist Mirabel Madrigal (Stephanie Beatriz) is the only member of her Columbian mountain family not to be blessed with a "special" gift--one sister can make flowers bloom through sheer willpower; an uncle ("That '70s Show" alum Wilmer Valderamma) is a shape-shifter; et al. When the Madrigals start losing their collective mojo, Mirabel embarks upon a journey to help restore her clan's magical world. From John Leguizamo's toucan sidekick (yawn) to the boilerplate message about how everyone is "special" in their own way, the whole thing feels recycled and second-hand. Directors Byron Howard and Jarred Bush had more success with their last Disney collaboration, 2016's delightful "Zootopia." (C.)
JACKASS FOREVER--Johnny Knoxville's sadomasochistic MTV franchise returns after an 12-year hiatus with what's being billed as their last hurrah. If so, at least the series is going out with a semi-bang. Apparently not even the ravages of time can keep Knoxville and Co. (including Steve-O, Jason "We Man" Acuna and series MVP Chris Pontius) from continuing to put themselves in harm's way for a cheap laugh. Whether you find the "Jackass" boys--and they'll remain boys forever, even in their impending dotage--amusing or appalling will probably determine whether you'll be buying a ticket, or staying home to catch up on your reading. (C PLUS.)
THE KING'S MAN--If nothing else, Matthew Vaughn's rambunctiously entertaining prequel deserves the "Lazarus" award for bringing a nascent comic book franchise that seemingly died after the rotten 2017 sequel ("The Inner Circle") back to life. Set against the backdrop of WW I, the film is nearly as playfully revisionist as Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." Ralph Fiennes (very good) plays the Duke of Oxford whose teenage son, Conrad (Harris Dickinson from "Lean on Pete"), is itching to sign up for combat duty. Instead, the Duke invites him to join a hush-hush mission involving King George, Czar Nicholas and Kaiser Wilhelm--all impishly played by Tom Hollander--his gentleman's gentleman (Djimon Hounsou) and Conrad's former nanny (Gemma Arterton). Among the nefarious baddies on their hit hit list are Rasputin (Rhys Ifans) and Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner) who's blackmailing President Woodrow Wilson with a sex tape to keep the U.S. from entering the war. While most of it is played for laughs, there's a melancholy undercurrent that wouldn't have been out of place in "1917." And stick around for a closing credits bonus scene that's a real doozy. (B.)
THE LAST BUS--As Tom, a terminally ill WW II vet on a bus trip to spread his late wife's ashes at the spot where they first met (and where their infant daughter was buried in 1952), Oscar nominee Timothy Spall is the main reason to sit through this pleasantly pokey Gilies ("Hideous Kinky," "The Playboys") MacKinnon-directed dramedy. Nothing much happens, but it's still fun watching Tom become an unlikely national folk hero through the course of his Sisyphean journey. (B MINUS.)
LICORICE PIZZA--Maybe turning 50 mellowed him, but this is the friendliest, most accessible film to date by the great Paul Thomas Anderson, director of such contemporary cinema benchmarks as "There Will be Blood" and "Boogie Nights." Set against the groovy backdrop of 1973 Hollywood, the film tells the too-good-to-be-true-except-it-mostly-was story of teen actor/budding entrepreneur Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in a sensational screen debut) and the "older woman" he crushes on. As Alana Kane, Gary's 25-year-old dream lover, rock star Alana Haim delivers another stand-out thesping debut. Among the colorful cast of characters who cross their paths are hairdresser-to-the-stars Jon Peters (a howlingly funny Bradley Cooper), Sean Penn's boozy "Jack" Holden and a foul-mouthed Lucille Ball doppelgänger (Christine Ebersole). Inspired by the adolescence of future Hollywood producer--and Tom Hanks' Playtone Films partner--Gary Goetzman, it's as funny, sweet-natured and charming as Anderson's previous movies were (mostly) dark and brooding. This is "Art" of the highest caliber, too; it's just a lot sunnier, maybe because Gary Valentine is more pleasant company than Daniel Plainview. (A.)
MARRY ME--Just before her wedding that's being telecast around the globe, pop superstar Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) learns that her fiancee (wildly charismatic Colombian singer-songwriter Maluma) has been two-timing her. Impulsively, she picks divorced high school math teacher Charlie (Owen Wilson) out of the audience and marries him instead. The hard part, understandably, is getting this marriage to work since husband and wife are veritable strangers, and their lives couldn't be any more different. Guessing the outcome of director Kat Cairo's bubbly rom-com doesn't take a rocket scientist: the fun is in getting to the "happily ever after" part. And it is fun. Kat and Charlie are as charming as they're hopelessly mismatched (on the surface anyway), and it's hard not to root for such likable protagonists. Whether Cairo's movie single-handedly revives the romantic comedy genre is debatable. But as a 2022 date flick, it'll do just fine. (B.)
MOONFALL--If Roland Emmerich is truly his generation's Irwin Allen, and "Independence Day" was its era's "Poseidon Adventure," then Emmerich's latest disaster flick can rightly be considered his "Swarm:" a dopey, cheesy-looking dud with more (inappropriate) laughs than thrills. Halle Berry plays a NASA hot shot and former astronaut who recruits another former space jockey (Patrick Wilson) to help stop the moon from hurtling to earth and causing global destruction. As the crackpot/conspiracy nut assisting them, "Games of Thrones" alumnus John Bradley is more annoying than amusing. The only remotely interesting thing about this idiotic movie is how closely it resembles Adam McKay's recent doomsday satire "Don't Look Up." Except this time the humor is wholly unintentional. (D MINUS.)
PURSUIT--John Cusack and Emile Hirsch have made so many awful straight-to-video movies in recent years that I'm beginning to think their early careers/films ("Into the Wild," "The Sure Thing," "The Grifters," "High Fidelity," "Grosse Point Blank," "Alpha Dog," "The Secret Lives of Altar Boys," etc.) were all just figments of my imagination. This incoherent, sadistic offal may be the lowest either has ever sunk. And I say that with Hirsch's execrable "American Dream" from last year still fresh in my mind. This time they play father and son--Cusack is some kind of crime boss; Hirsch plays a black sheep computer hacker--who get mixed up with a drug cartel of indeterminate origin. And I haven't even mentioned ostensible lead Jake Manley: he's the NYPD detective still experiencing PTSD from the murder of his pregnant wife at the hands of the same cartel. None of it makes a lick of sense, and the over-the-top violence is truly sickening. The only thing that could have made this any worse is if Bruce Willis had shown up in a supporting role. (D MINUS.)
SCREAM--The latest attempt to resuscitate a long dormant franchise that expired when Bill Clinton was president mostly hits it out of the park thanks to the inspired choice of "Ready or Not" helmers Matt Bettinelli-Orpin and Tyler Gillett to direct. Set 25 years after the original "Ghostface Killer" slayings--it's actually been 26 years since the original "Scream" premiered, but who's counting?--the film reassembles the core players (including Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott, Courtney Cox's Gale Riley and David Arquette's Deputy Dewey) while intjecting some fresh blood (Jack Quaid and Dylan Minnette among others) into the mix. The meta humor doesn't seem nearly as novel or groundbreaking as it did in 1996, but Bettinelli-Orpin and Gillett actually manage to make it way more fun than any third (or is it fourth?) generation "re-quel" has any right to be. (B.)
SING 2--Cocksure koala bear Buster ("Dream big dreams!") Moon takes his menagerie of wannabe superstars to Redshore City--think the "Zootopia" version of Las Vegas--to stage a big-budget sci-fi musical bankrolled by big, bad wolf Jimmy Crystal. But Jimmy threatens to pull the plug unless Buster (Matthew McConaughey) somehow manages to lure reclusive lion rocker Clay Calloway (U2's Bono in his first animated screen role) back to the stage. Writer-director Garth Jenning' egregiously overlong and generally "meh" sequel to his 2016 'toon sleeper is strictly for anyone who thinks animals performing karaoke is the quintessence of wit. Despite 40--count' em--songs and the good-sport return of original cast members McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Taron Egerton, Scarlett Johansson and Nick Kroll, this is more enervating than entertaining. (C.)
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME--Face it, Marvel-ites. There hasn't been a truly great "Spider-Man" movie since 2004's "Spider-Man 2," and the latest--and longest at two-and-a-half-hours--Spidey outing is no exception. But surprisingly, and I never thought I'd be saying this, it's actually pretty darn good. The third in director Jon Watts and star Tom Holland's unofficial "home" trilogy (2017's Homecoming" and 2019's "Far from Home" precede it), "No Way Home" picks up where the previous film left off when Spider-Man's identity was revealed Desperate to reclaim his previous anonymity, Spider-Man seeks out fellow Avenger Dr. Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for supernatural assistance. But the reverberations--in which previous Spider-Man arch-enemies like Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Electra (Jamie Foxx) and the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) are unleashed from the bowels of hell--prove catastrophic. It's always nice to reconnect with series favorites like Zendaya, Marisa Tomei and J.K. Simmons, and there are some surprise cameos sure to tickle Marvel fans. If this is truly the end of the line for Holland's web-slinger, I'm happy to report that his stint in the franchise is going out with a bang. (B PLUS.)
TASTE--I dig "Slow Cinema" (Tsai Ming-liang, Bella Garr, Pedro Costa, et al) as much as any self-respecting cineaste, but first-time director Le Bao's film is less slow than somnolent. The camera moves so infrequently you're liable to think the frame has frozen on your TV set. What plot there is involves a Nigerian soccer player (Olegunleko Ezekiel Gbenga) living in Saigon who gets cut from his Vietnamese football club after injuring himself. At loose ends, he moves into what looks like an abandoned factory with four middle-aged women and a pig. The fact that all five--six if you count the sow--are naked most of the time makes as little sense as anything else here. But despite the occasional rutting (always filmed in tasteful long shot by world-class cinematographer Nguyen Vinh Phuc), there's nothing remotely erotic here. I haven't disliked an art film I was supposed to love as much since Carlos Reygadas' 2002 critics' darling "Japon." Since I eventually came around on Reygadas (his "Silent Light" is one of my favorite movies of the new millennium), maybe I'll eventually grow to dig Bao, too. Or not. (D PLUS.) EXCLUSIVELY ON MUBI
THE 355--When a top-secret military weapon is stolen, CIA agent Mace Brown (Jessica Chastain) rounds up an elite corps of international specialists (Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong'o and Penelope Cruz) to help her save the day. Director Simon Kinberg seems rightfully proud of his "A"-list distaff cast, and clearly enjoys showcasing them in scenic international locales (Paris, Morocco, Shanghai, et al). The script, unfortunately, is both muddled and cliched: it feels like it's been sitting around since the mid-'60s Bond craze. Fortunately, Chastain's "Angels" are so much fun to watch that you're willing to give it a pass. (C PLUS.)
UNCHARTERED--Tom Holland's follow-up to "Spider-Man: No Way Home" isn't likely to reach the box office stratosphere of his recent blockbuster. But for a videogame adaptation, "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer's larkish adventure is a tolerable enough Saturday night (or matinee) entertainment. Holland plays Nate Drake, a bartender/pickpocket who's recruited by daredevil adventurer Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to help locate the 500-year-old fortune of legendary explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Their goal is to claim the $5-billion prize before Big Bad Moncanda (Antonio Banderas) and his accomplice (Tati Gabriella) get their grubby hands on it. While Fleischer shamelessly borrows from (among others) the Indiana Jones, "National Treasure" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies--and it's as depressingly CGI-dependent as most 21st century franchise wannabes--the whole thing is so breathlessly paced that it's rarely boring. Holland essentially plays Peter Parker's semi-dissolute kid brother here and he develops precious little chemistry with Wahlberg who seems mildly piqued that he's been recruited to play second fiddle to a Marvel super-hero. Despite closing credits Easter eggs that promise (threaten?) a sequel, I'm not expecting an "Unchartered 2" anytime soon. (C PLUS.)
WEST SIDE STORY--Was there really a crying need for an "evolved" reboot of Robert Wise's Oscar-feted 1961 film based on Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein's landmark Broadway musical? No, not really. The politically correct touches added by adapter Tony Kushner--e.g, making the Jets tomboy mascot transgender and a gay-bashing victim!--feel like cynical concessions to Gen Z progressives. And the decision not to provide subtitles for the Spanish-language dialogue was a stupidly arrogant miscalculation that will probably wind up hurting it at the box-office. But whenever Rachel Zagler and Ansel Elgort's star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony share the frame, it's hard to take your eyes off them. Zagler in particular is a real find: she's like an angel descended from heaven. Janusz Kaminski's dynamic on-location lensing trumps the original (which was largely studio-lensed), even if Ariana Debose and David Alvarez's Anita and Bernardo can't hold a candle to Rita Moreno and George Chakiris' award-winning interpretations. Speaking of Moreno, Kushner has written a new, utterly gratuitous role for the 90-year-old showbiz veteran, and it's a testament to Moreno's still-formidable chops that it's not an embarrassment. In helming the first musical of his 50-year career, Steven Spielberg doesn't seem particularly engaged by the material (maybe he knew he couldn't replace the original in anyone's rose-colored memories). Unfortunately, that means Kushner is the true auteur here which is precisely where the problems lie. Rewriting Sondheim lyrics solely to pacify snowflake sensibilities? Yikes! Dude is so woke he probably hasn't slept since "Angels in America" opened on Broadway back in the early '90s. (B MINUS.)
WRITTEN ON THE WIND--Douglas ("Magnificent Obsession," "All That Heaven Allows") Sirk's spectacularly florid, gloriously unhinged 1956 melodrama kind of set the template for primetime soaps ("Dallas," "Dynasty," et al) that would dominate the airwaves in the 1980's. The Texas oil family that takes center stage in Sirk's masterpiece isn't named Ewing, but their financial chicanery, adultery, alcoholism and various other bad behavior will be immediately recognizable to fans of J.R.'s debauched clan. As Lucy, the working-class secretary who makes the mistake of marrying into the Hadley family when she ties the knot with head case scion Kyle (Robert Stack), Lauren Bacall serves as the film's de facto moral fulcrum. It's one of her finest screen performances. Also very good are Sirk muse Rock Hudson as Kyle's long-suffering BFF Mitch (who also carries an unrequited torch for Lucy, natch) and a never-better Dorothy Malone who deservedly won an Oscar as Marylee, the family's resident nymphomaniac. Like most Sirk films, the melodrama would be patently risible minus his carbolic wit and unerring formal elegance. As usual, Sirk's exquisite good taste trumps the mechanical permutations of "plot." While the newly issued Criterion Collection Blu-Ray looks tremendous thanks to its digital restoration, the extras are somewhat less bountiful than the CC norm. Included are a wonderful 2008 documentary, "Acting for Douglas Sirk," which includes archival interviews with Hudson, Stack, Malone, producer Albert Zugsmith and Sirk himself; an interview with scholar Patricia White about the movie; and an essay by New York-based critic Blair McClendomn contextualizing the film within Sirk's oeuvre and its roots in Greek tragedy. (A.)
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON HOME VIDEO/STREAMIMNG CHANNELS:
AMERICAN UNDERDOG--"Shazam!" star Zachary Levi plays two-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion Kurt Warner in a faith-based biopic by the Erwin Brothers, directors of 2018 crossover smash, "I Can Only Imagine." As the divorced single mom who became Warner's future wife--and the person who turned him on to J.C.--Anna Paquin is a long way from vampire-loving "True Blood" sexpot Sookie Stackhouse. Dennis Quaid has a few nice scenes as Rams coach Dick Vermeil, but the whole thing is just so squeaky-clean, cookie-cutter bland that it inadvertently does Warner--surely a more complex and layered figure than the Erwin's prosaic script allows--a major disservice. I'm betting the movie's target demographic (Red State Evangelical Christians) wouldn't want it any other way. (D PLUS.)
THE ANTICHRIST--Released in the U.S. as "The Tempter" in 1978, legendary schlockmeister Alberto ("Operation Kid Brother," "Hercules Vs. the Giant Warriors") De Martino's 1974 "Exorcist" rip-off was one of many Italian demonic possession movies--"Beyond the Door," "The House of Exorcism" among them--that flooded grindhouses and drive-ins in the wake of the blockbuster success of William Friedkin's horror masterwork. It's also one of the best. Carla Gravina (best known as Dustin Hoffman's mistress in Pietro Germi's "Alfredo, Alfredo") plays Ippolita, a disabled woman who undergoes hypnosis to help cure her paralysis. During the therapy sessions, Ippolita reverts to her former incarnation as a witch who was burned at the stake in the Inquisition. Soon, the comely lass is seducing and killing a slew of horny men. Cue an exorcising priest (George Colouris, a long way from his screen debut in Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane"!) and voluminous pea-soup vomit. The original U.S. theatrical cut was 16 minutes shorter and considerably less coherent, so bravo to Kino-Lorber for restoring De Martino's movie to its original length and giving it a spiffy 4K digital Blu-Ray release. With an Ennio Morricone score and a supporting cast that includes Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer and Alida Valli, this is a hugely entertaining freak-out worth seeking out for the notorious "goat orgy" alone. Extras include audio commentary by historian Lee Gambin and film critic Sally Christie, and a featurette with both De Martini and Oscar winner Morricone. (B PLUS.)
BECOMING THE RICARDOS--Aaron ("The Trial of the Chicago Seven," "Molly's Game") Sorkin's terrifically entertaining new film chronicles one turbulent week in 1952 when Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) faced a crisis point in their personal and professional lives. Although "I Love, Lucy" was the highest rated show on television (60 million viewers tuned in every week), the HUAC had just branded Ball a Communist, tabloids were running stories about Desi's alleged affairs and Lucy's surprise pregnancy sent CBS and the show's advertisers into a collective tizzy. Kidman and Bardem are both superb, and J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda as William Frawley and Vivian Vance--better known as Fred and Ethel Mertz--are equally impressive. The movie is as much about the Arnaz marriage as it is an origin story about network television in its infancy, and Sorkin succeeds beautifully on both counts. (A.)
BELFAST--Kenneth Branagh's best film in decades is also his most personal: a heartfelt, autobiographical coming-of-age drama about growing up in late 1960's Belfast amidst Northern Ireland's "Troubles." Branagh surrogate Buddy (newcomer Jude Hill in a remarkable screen debut) is broken-hearted when his parents (Jamie Dornan and Catriana Balfer, both wonderful) decide to uproot their family and move to England. (Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds deliver Oscar-worthy performances as 9-year-old Buddy's grandparents.) The b&w lensing is luminous, and the soundtrack (heavy on vintage Van Morrison) is well-nigh unimpeachable. If previous British coming-of-agers like Terrence Davies' "The Long Day Closes," John Boorman's "Hope and Glory" and Stephen Frears' "Liam" cut deeper and packed more of an emotional wallop, Branagh's "one from the heart" is still a joy to be treasured. The very definition of "audience movie," it's not surprising this has been widely considered a front-runner for the 2021 Best Picture Oscar since winning top prize at this year's Toronto Film Festival. (A MINUS.)
CATCH THE FAIR ONE--Native American female boxer Kali Reis makes a sensational acting debut as Kaylee, a disgraced former boxing champ on a kamikaze mission to locate the kid sister who was abducted two years earlier. Kaylee's path ultimately leads her to a Buffalo, New York father/son sex trafficking team--creepily played by Kevin Dunn and Daniel Henshall--and the outcome is as viscerally brutal as it is emotionally gratifying. Writer/director Josef Kubota Wladyka's tautly paced action thriller builds such an inexorable momentum that you may forget to breathe in the final minutes. Executive produced by the estimable Darren ("Black Swan," "Requiem for a Dream") Aronofsky. (A MINUS.)
CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG--While mom's away on a business trip, precocious Manhattan tween Emily Elizabeth (appealing Darby Camp) befriends the titular crimson puppy who magically grows to gargantuan dimensions over night. Slapsticky shenanigans ensue as an evil geneticist (Tony Hale) attempts to steal Clifford for nefarious purposes. Thanks to our quick-thinking heroine and her brainiac school chum (Isaac Wang), the kids--reluctantly aided by Emily Elizabeth's slacker uncle (Jack Whitehall)--manage to save the day, and even elude a dog-hating apartment super (David Allen Grier). Based on the popular 1960's Scholastic books and subsequent PBS series, this CGI/live-action hybrid is surprisingly tolerable, even for normally kidflick-averse grown ups like myself. Or maybe I was just predisposed to like it since I recently adopted a puppy myself. Available at no additional charge to Paramount+ subscribers. (C PLUS.)
DON'T LOOK UP--Adam ("Vice," "The Big Short") McKay's audacious, howlingly funny doomsday comedy is the "Dr. Strangelove" of the new millennium: brilliantly written/directed, and acted to perfection by an all-star ensemble cast. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a Michigan State professor whose doctoral student (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a comet falling to earth which, if it lands, will effectively wipe out civilization as we know it. Their attempts to engender government assistance fall on deaf ears (Meryl Streep is a hoot as the Marjorie Taylor Greene-ish POTUS), and things quickly de-escalate from there. McKay manages to sustain the giddy gallows humor for over two hours, and every performance--including Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry (co-hosts of a Regis and Kathy Lee-style "happy news" chatshow), Mark Rylance (a clinically insane cross between Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Bezos), Jonah Hill (Streep's idiot chief of staff son) and Melanie Lynskey (DiCaprio's long-suffering wife)--is a hoot. Not only one of the bravest movies of the year, it's also one of the finest. (A.)
DUNE--As someone who loved David Lynch's generally reviled 1984 Frank Herbert adaptation, I didn't really see a crying need for a reboot. But Denis ("Arrival," "Blade Runner 2049") Villeneuve clearly did. And he wasn't thinking small either. Apparently afflicted with "Peter Jackson Elephantiasis," Villeneuve decided that Herbert's wildly influential sci-fi magnum opus had the makings of a--yawn--"epic trilogy." So like Jackson's torturously protracted "Hobbit" trifecta, he's chosen to italicize every Herbert comma and apostrophe. The result is a visually dazzling, but glacially paced "Chapter One" that beautifully, sometimes thrillingly, dawdles to, well, nowhere in particular. I'm assuming the real ending is being saved for "Chapter Three" since this particular movie doesn't end so much as stop. "It" boy Timothee Chalamet plays Paul Atreides who journeys to the planet Arrakis to find the precious "spice" (think mescaline or some other groovy hallucinogen) that will hopefully save his doomed planet. As Chalamet's parents, Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson (Duke and Lady Atreides) do fine work, and the entire supporting cast is an embarrassment of of high-voltage talent (Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Zendaya) and franchise movie beefcake (Jason Mamoa and Dave Bautista). During the course of its lumbering two-and-a-half-hour run time, I frequently wanted to freeze an image and frame it on my mantelpiece. But I was never emotionally invested or, quite frankly, entertained. (C.)
ETERNALS--"Did it really have to be that long?" Except for the most rabid fanboys/girls, that'll probably be most people's reaction to this nearly three-hour Marvel origin story featuring a corps of below ballot superheroes. The fact that it's not only watchable, but frequently impressive stems from the authorial sensibility/vision of Oscar-winning director Chloe ("Nomadland," "The Rider") Zhao. While (literally) light years away from the semi-improvised neorealist dramas largely populated by non-professional actors she cut her teeth on, there's just enough of "The Zhao Touch" to make fans sit up and take notice. For starters, it's the most visually resplendent Marvel production to date, with a decided emphasis on the natural world (dig those painterly landscapes) and the humanity of its (in this case, mostly otherworldly) cast of characters. The titular Eternals have been around for thousands of years and reunite to battle their ultimate foe (the Deviants) to save earth from global destruction. For better or worse, every woke box is checked here. Among the Eternal phalanx--led by a Latinx woman (Selma Hayek), natch--are an African-American gay (Brian Tyree Henry); an Indian (Kumail Nanjiani) who moonlights as a Bollywood superstar; a deaf African-American female (Lauren Ridloff); Angelina Jolie; and two former "Game of Thrones" hunks (Kit Harrington and Richard Madden). I can't say that its 157 minutes exactly fly by--it could have definitely used a last-minute trim--but "Eternals" is one of the few Marvels to date that actually seems more like a "film" than merely a cynical Hasbro marketing tool. (B.)
THE FRENCH DISPATCH--Like every Wes Anderson movie, his latest marvel has such a hand-made, almost artisanal quality--with near-pointillist mise-en-scene that practically jumps off the screen without the benefit of 3-D--that you spend most of the time just gazing in wonder at its creator's fecund imagination. Set in the fictitious Ennui, France, the film concerns the day-to-day operations of the titular English-language magazine whose editor (an impeccably droll Bill Murray) is mother hen to his eccentric corps of writers, including Frances McDormand, Owen Wilson and Jeffrey Wright. As their various stories (inhabited by the starry likes of Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Timothee Chalamet, Lea Seydoux, Willem Dafoe, Christoph Waltz and Saoirse Ronan!) come to enchanted life, Anderson exerts the push and heart-stopping pull of classic fairy tales. (A.)
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE--Carrie Coon plays the daughter of one of the original ghostbusters who, after inheriting her late dad's Oklahoma farm, moves there with her two kids ("Stranger Things" star Finn Wolfhard and McKenna Grace). Small town life proves even stranger than poltergeists for this NYC single-parent brood, and director Jason ("Juno," "Up in the Air") Reitman gets a lot of predictable comic mileage out of the story's fish out of water elements. He also handles the f/x elements like the chip off the old block that he is (Reitman's dad, Ivan, directed the original Reagan-era blockbusters). Thanks to its strong cast--the always welcome Paul Rudd pops up as a local science teacher/potential Coon romantic interest--and Easter eggs galore, this is unlikely to offend the purists who (somewhat unfairly) balked at Paul Feig's 2016 all-female reimagining. Whether its box-office appeal will extend beyond '80s nostalgists to create a new generation of Ectomobile fans remains to be seen, however. (B MINUS.)
GOD'S GUN--This funky 1976 Israeli spaghetti western--well, maybe couscous western would be more apropos--was completely unknown to me until the increasingly indispensable Kino-Lorber saw fit to release it on a gorgeously restored new Blu-Ray. Directed by the lesser Sergio Corbucci (who himself was the lesser Sergio Leone) Gianfranco Parolini of the "Sabata" trilogy fame, the film stars Lee Van Cleef, "Bad" from Leone's "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," in a dual role as a murdered priest and his gunslinger twin brother who enacts revenge. None other than legendary screen heavy Jack Palance plays the notorious outlaw kingpin awaiting his bloody comeuppance at the hands of Van Cleef's notorious Diamante Lobo (also the film's original title). Produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus before their Cannon Films would become the go-to for fans of outré exploitation cinema, it really ups the cult curio ante by casting Richard ("Have Gun Will Travel") Boone, Europudding sexpot Sybil Danning and future teen idol Leif Garrett in key supporting roles. Is it "good" in any conventional sense? Not really, but it's definitely a must-see, particularly if you watch the movie with "Repo Man"/"Sid and Nancy" director Alex Cox's vastly entertaining "inside baseball" audio commentary track. (B.)
THE GREAT MOMENT--This lesser known 1944 Preston ("Sullivan's Travels," "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek") Sturges movie was not a hit in its time--critics and audiences were understandably flummoxed that master satirist Sturges had made a drama instead of another comedy--and has largely been forgotten. But Kino-Lorber's new Blu-Ray should help introduce a new generation to one of the master filmmaker's more offbeat works. Sturges' mainstay Joel McCrea plays Dr. William Morton, the American dentist who discovered ether (aka anesthesia) in 1846. Morton's invaluable medical contribution is eclipsed, however, by his own second-guessing and a reticence to reap financial dividends from his Herculean discovery. It's a bittersweet biopic laced with typically sardonic Sturges humor, and the supporting cast is chockfull of Sturges' repertory players like William Demarest and Franklin Panghorn. The disc includes an introduction ("Great Without Glory") by historian Constantine Nasr; a featurette ("Triumph Over Pain") extolling Sturges' genius with Nasr, the late, great Peter Bogdanovich and Sturges' son, Tom, as well as the original theatrical trailer. (A.)
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT--The "Citizen Kane" of rock and roll movies finally receives the Criterion Blu-Ray Treatment, and the timing couldn't be more auspicious. Peter Jackson's monumental "Get Back" recently debuted on Disney+ and documented what was, for all intents and purposes, the end of the Beatles during the recording sessions for "Let it Be" which would be their final album. Richard Lester's 1964 lagniappe catches the Beatles in full bloom at the beginning of their worldwide fame. As hard as it is to believe, less than five years had passed between the March '64 "Hard Day's" shoot and January '69 when "Get Back" takes place. It's a pithy metaphor for the turbulent societal changes that occurred throughout the globe in those few brief years. Lester's masterpiece, one of the most ebullient and flat-out joyful movies ever made, truly captures lightning in a bottle. For me, the biggest takeaway was how great it must have been to be a Beatle at that pivotal moment in their lives/careers. Shot in b&w because United Artists was looking to save a few pennies (they were so uncertain that Beatlemania would last that Lester was rushed into post-production in order to make a July '64 release date), the film--essentially recording a day in the lives of the Fab Four with the lads playing "themselves"--is pure, undiluted pleasure from beginning to end. And the soundtrack ("I Should Have Known Better," "If I Fell," "She Loves You," "Can't Buy Me Love," et al) is an embarrassment of solid gold riches. Befitting Criterion, the extras on the two-disc box set are suitably magnanimous. There's "You Can't Do That," a 1994 making-of doc which includes Beattles outtake performances; "In Their Own Voices," a 1964 featurette including interviews with the Beatles, behind the scenes footage and production photos; 2002 doc "Things They Said Today" with Lester, cinematographer Gil Taylor, (whose eclectic future credits would include everything from Polanski's "Repulsion" to "Star Wars") music producer George Martin and screenwriter Alun Owen; Lester's Oscar-nominated, pre-"Hard Days" short, "The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film;" "Picturewise," an in-depth look at Lester's early work; a 2014 discussion of Lester's filmmaking modus operandi; a 2014 interview with Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn; excerpts from a 1970 Lester interview; and an essay ("The Whole World is Watching") by critic Howard Hampton. (A PLUS.)
HOUSE OF GUCCI--Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Jerod Leto topline Ridley ("Gladiator," "Thelma and Louise") Scott's camp-tastic farrago about the Italian fashion dynasty which, if one is to believe the film, must be directly descended from the Borgias. As the working class usurper who marries into the family and ultimately launches an internecine campaign to take control, Gaga largely fulfills her "A Star is Born" promise. But Leto--seemingly channelling Max Schreck's Nosferatu--is so flamboyantly, spectacularly awful he seems to be an alien visiting from a distant planet. As Gaga's Gucci hubby, Driver underplays in his patented Method fashion while Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons (as Gucci co-heads Aldo and Rodolfo) deliver some of their wiggiest performances to date; for a seasoned hambone like Pacino, that's saying something. While Scott was clearly aiming for a "Godfather" set in the fashion industry, the end result plays more like '80s primetime soaps, But with more style, of course. (C.)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS--Philip Kaufman's 1978 reimagining of Don Siegel's 1956 Cold War classic is the rare reboot that actually improved upon the original. The newly released Kino-Lorber Blu-Ray--in a sparkling new 4K restoration--finally gives the film its due. Set against the backdrop of late '70s San Francisco (think Jim Jones, EST and sundry self-help guru cults), Kaufman and screenwriter W.D. ("Hearts of the West," "Nickelodeon") Richter's pop-cult savvy adaptation of Jack Finney's original source material works as both a wickedly funny satire of the consciousness movement as well as a kick-ass horror/sci-fi flick. And a brilliant cast (Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright and Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy) seals the deal. The extras are suitably prodigious and include audio commentary by both Kaufman and historian Steve Haberman; interviews with Richter, composer Danny Zeitlin, Adams, and Finney authority Jack Seabrook; numerous how-they-did-it featurettes ("Practical Magic: The Special Effects Pod," "The Invasion Will be Televised: The Cinematography Pod," "The Man Behind the Scream: The Sound Effects Pod") and the impishly titled "Re-Visitors from Outer Space, or How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Pod." (A.)
A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN--Denzel Washington directed this mawkish, pokily paced male weepie about letters written by First Sergeant Charles King (Michael B. Jordan) to his soon-to-be-born son during the Iraq War. Much of the running time is devoted to syrupy flashbacks detailing Charles' pre-combat romance with NYT journalist Dana Canedy (Chante Adams), Jordan's mother. The ending admittedly packs an emotional wallop, but the whole thing trudges on for more than two hours, hitting the same dirge-like notes ad infinitum. Although based on a true story, the film has a synthetic quality that defeats even some very good performances (Jordan is dependably strong and Adams impresses as a future star). Except for "Fences," his dynamic 2017 August Wilson adaptation, Washington has never been a particularly accomplished or inspired director. His genius lies in front of, not behind the camera. And this is possibly the two-time Oscar-winning actor's most maladroit helming job to date. (C MINUS.)
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS--18 years after the "Matrix" trilogy ended, Lana Wachowski (sans sister Lilly) returns with the fourth installment of a mothball-encrusted franchise that kicked off during the halcyon days of the Clinton administration. ("Bullet Time" now seems as quaintly nostalgic as "Hammer Time.") Keanu Reeves--better known as John Wick these days--reprises his formerly iconic Neo role, although now "The One" is San Francisco video game designer "Thomas Anderson." A lot of stuff happens here (and I do mean a lot: it runs 148 very long minutes), but the only thing I can report with certainty is that Thomas aka Neo embarks on a kamikaze mission to reunite with former flame/fellow freedom fighter Trinity (a most welcome Carrie-Anne Moss). Some bright new faces show up (Jessica Henwick and Priyanka Chopra Jones in particular) and it looks great, but the whole thing reeks of Wachowski's desperate need to still appear "relevant." (C.)
MULHOLLAND DRIVE--One of the key American films--and one of the key texts period: its cultural influence has been prodigious--of New Millennium Cinema, David Lynch's spectacularly unhinged, yet supremely disciplined immersion into the rabbit hole of his own fecund imagination cuts deeper than any Lynch movie except perhaps 1986's "Blue Velvet." In a star-making performance that should have won her an Oscar (shockingly, she wasn't even nominated; Lynch, fortunately, was) Naomi Watts plays dewey ingenue Betty Elms, newly arrived in Hollywood with dreams of becoming a star. Betty's fateful meeting of mysterious brunette Rita (Laura Harring) who suffers from amnesia after a near-fatal car accident on (!) Mulholland Drive sends the two women hurtling into the underbelly of L.A.'s Dream Factory in an attempt to solve the mystery of Rita's identity. Hint: "Silencio"--the sepulchral nightclub where the action (mostly) climaxes--is not just a place, it's a state of mind The sumptuously restored new Criterion Collection release includes both a 4K UHD DVD presented in Dolby Vision HDR, as well as a Blu-Ray copy. Among the extras are 2015 interviews with Lynch, Watts, Harring, Justin Theroux (who plays Tinseltown golden boy Adam Kesher), casting director Johanna Ray and longtime Lynch collaborators composer Angelo Badalamenti and production designer Jack Fisk; making-of footage; a tantalizing deleted scene; and Lynch's deep-dive 2005 interview with "Lynch on Lynch" author Chris Rodley. (A PLUS.)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY-- Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro's best, most fully realized English-language film to date is a loose remake of Edmund Goulding's 1947 film noir classic starring Tyrone Power. In his best performance since "Silver Linings Playbook," Bradley Cooper plays broken-down, Depression-era drifter Stanton Carlisle who finds his true calling as a carny in Willem Dafoe's traveling circus. After being mentored by husband-and-wife psychics Toni Collette and David Strathairn, an increasingly cynical Stanton--accompanied by virtuous girlfriend (Molly) Rooney Mara--takes his act on the road, headlining glitzy night clubs where he bamboozles the well-heeled clientele with his "mind-reading" abilities. It's not until Stanton partners with femme fatale shrink Cate Blanchett, whose knowledge of the inner secrets of her wealthy patients proves indispensable in swindling the high and mighty for increasingly bigger paydays, that his luck finally runs out. Despite running 150 minutes, del Toro keeps his audience in a vise grip throughout: the tension is so palpable at times you'll forget to breathe. Everything about the film fires on all cylinders: the period production/costume design, long-time del Toro collaborator Dan Lausten's lustrous cinematography, Nathan Johnson's insinuating score and a nonpareil cast (including Mary Steenburgen, Ron Perlman and a superbly menacing Richard Jenkins as Stanton's final mark). The Goulding original is terrific and has a deserved cult reputation, but del Toro's brilliant reboot is even better. (A.)
NO TIME TO DIE--Finally released after 18 months in Covid jail, Daniel Craig's farewell outing as 007 winds up being something of a letdown, especially after the last two fantastic Sam Mendes-directed Bonds ("Skyfall" and "Spectre"). Picking up five years after the last movie--it's really been 6 1/2, but who's counting?--James has retired from M16 and is living a quiet retirement in Jamaica. (His "007" insignia has already been passed on to a new agent.) Summoned back into the field to rescue a scientist kidnapped by megalomaniacal terrorist Lyutsider Safin (Rami Malek, overacting like crazy), Bond is forced to seek the help of former nemesis Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) who's ensconced, Hannibal Lecter-like, in a British loony bin. Director Cary Jaji Fukunaga (HBO's "True Detective") hits the globe-hopping action in a professional, if somewhat perfunctory manner, but the only parts of his (egregiously overlong) 163-minute film that have any emotional resonance are the scenes between James and "Spectre" inamorata, Madeleine (Lea Seydoux). I actually wanted more of their love story and less of the rote CGI action setpieces: hardly what I was expecting from a new 007 movie. (B MINUS.)
THE RED SHOES--It was screen legend Ellen Burstyn who first turned me on to Michael Powell's 1948 masterpiece. In an early '70s Esquire Magazine article, Burstyn picked "The Red Shoes" as the film she'd choose to run continuously if she ever owned/operated a movie theater. Of course, in the pre-DVD/TCM era, wanting to see an old movie and actually seeing it, particularly if you lived in a town without repertory theaters, were two different things. It would be several years before my first encounter with Michael Powell's classic, and when I did Burstyn's testimonial lingered in the recesses of my mind. "Yes," I remember thinking, "this is precisely the sort of sugarplum fantasy that should run forever in every extant movie theater." As a ballerina-in-training torn between love and art, Moira Shearer is perfection in her screen debut. And Jack Cardiff's cinematography is justly legendary. Next to his work the previous year in Powell's "Black Narcissus," it's probably a career-best. Even if you've never seen--or, like me, never much cared for--ballet, Powell's hallucinatory fever dream could very well turn you into a balletomane for life. In their newly issued Blu-Ray, the Criterion Collection has outdone themselves with a groaning board of scrumptious extras. There's a demonstration by Powell fanatic Martin Scorsese on the film's painstaking digital restoration; a 1994 audio commentary conducted by Ian Christie featuring interviews with Shearer, male lead Marius Goring, Cardiff, composer Brian Easdale and Scorsese; the 2000 making-of documentary, "A Profile of 'The Red Shoes'" that includes interviews with the production crew; a 2009 interview with Powell's widow, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, conducted at the Cannes Film Festival; audio recordings of Jeremy Irons reading passages from Powell and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger's novelization of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that inspired the movie; publicity stills, behind-the-scenes photos and a gallery of memorabilia from Scorsese's private collection; the 1948 animated film ("'The Red Shoes' Sketches") in which Hein Heckroth's painted storyboards for the production come to magical life; an essay by critic David Ehrenstein; and notes on the painstaking restoration process by preservationist Robert Gitt. (A PLUS.)
SOME LIKE IT HOT--Thanks to Kino Lorber, one of the greatest of all Hollywood comedies finally receives the DVD release it deserves. Billy Wilder's irresistible 1959 Prohibition-era screwball romp about a pair of musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) who masquerade as women to elude mobsters hot on their trail after inadvertently witnessing a gangland hit remains as springtime fresh--and hysterically funny--as ever. And I haven't even mentioned the film's ace in the hole, the incomparable Marilyn Monroe in her best and most iconic screen performance as all-female jazz band member Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk. Befitting the film's legendary status, the extras are both formidable and choice. There are two audio commentary tracks (one with Wilder biographer Joseph McBride, and the other featuring "Splash" screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel teamed with Paul Diamond, son of Wilder's longtime screenwriting partner I.A.L. Diamond); splendid featurettes discussing the film's making and "Hall of Fame" legacy; a conversation between Wilder and Oscar-winning director Volker ("The Tin Drum") Schlondorff; interviews with Lemmon and Curtis; a tribute to Diamond; the film's original theatrical trailer; and much more. Nobody's perfect, but this spectacular disc comes pretty darn close. (A PLUS.)
SUNDOWN--A British family's Acapulco vacation is cut short when they receive word that their matriarch has died. At the airport, Neil (Tim Roth) feigns losing his passport, forcing him to stay behind. But as the days turn into weeks and Neil's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, no explanation is volunteered for his willfully perverse actions. Director Michel ("New Order") Franco seems determined to follow in the misanthropic footsteps of Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier--their combined oeuvres can be described as "The Cinema of Discomfort"--which places a huge burden on literal-minded audiences who demand glib answers. But if you're willing to stick with it, Franco's film ultimately pays major dividends. Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg (Neil's sister) and Iazua Larios (the local woman Neil hooks up with) are all terrific, and the whole thing exerts a grim fascination which is ultimately rewarded in Franco's shockingly moving ending. (A MINUS.)
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH--Joel Coen's first film as writer/director sans brother Joel is an ingeniously streamlined, superbly acted adaptation of Shakespeare's "Scottish Play." Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand play the scheming couple whose hubristic ambitions ultimately prove their undoing, and Coen makes Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth's diabolical, increasingly bloody machinations as appalling as they are morbidly funny. There have already been a slew of exemplary screen translations of the Bard's masterpiece (two of them--by Orson Welles and Roman Polanski respectively--are legitimately great), but Coen's "Macbeth" is possibly the most accessible and flat-out entertaining to date. It's also exquisitely lensed, in shimmeringly gorgeous black and white, by the great Bruno Delbonnel. Available on Apple TV+ at no additional charge for subscribers. (A.)
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE--A sequel to the 2018 Marvel franchise-starter that's faster, looser and easier to take than the middling original. Apparently someone--director Andy Serkis perhaps?--decided to take a page from Ryan Reynolds' "Deadpool" movies and make it a larkish comedy. At least that's how Tom Hardy plays his titular role this time. Adding spice to the mix is Woody Harrelson as Big Bad arch villain Carnage, and the whole thing is so breezily paced and unapologetically ridiculous that it's impossible to be offended by the wall-to-wall "R"-caliber violence that somehow managed to squeak by with a "PG-13" rating. The only real downside is the return of perennially mopey Michelle Williams who makes a fleeting (thank heavens!) appearance as Venom's dour ex. (C PLUS.)
WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA--A stirring lecture by civil rights lawyer Jeffrey Robinson at New York City's Town Hall in June 2019 serves as the jumping off point for Emily and Sarah Kuntsler's provocative essay film which encompasses Robinson's family history and a potpourri of interviews. Whether discussing the nuts and bolts of the origins of slavery, the 1921 Tulsa genocide, MLK's assassination (and how it marked a turning point--backwards--in U.S. race relations) or his own childhood in Memphis as the son of "unicorn" parents, the Kuntsler's documentary is both clear-eyed and aspirational. Accordingly, it demands to be shown in every American middle and high school as a rebuke to the white-washing of history currently taking insidious root in this country. (B PLUS.)
THE WOMAN WHO RAN--Like cilantro or Eric Rohmer movies, North Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo is an acquired taste. But if you like Hong--and I've been a fan since 2002's "Turning Gate" which was the best foreign-language romantic comedy since Truffaut's "Stolen Kisses"--this elegantly structured miniature is pure pleasure. Gamhee (Kim Minhee) visits three old friends while her husband of five years is away on a business trip. The interactions are as amusing as they are telling. One (Set Younghua) is a divorcee who's sworn off men. Another (Song Seonmi) is single and doesn't understand why women can't play by the same rules as men. The third (Kim Saebyuk) is married to Gamhee's former flame which renders their seemingly casual banter, er, awkward and rife with subtext. Clocking in at a svelte 77 minutes, this might not be Hong's most substantial work, but it's essential Hong nonetheless. (A MINUS.) EXCLUSIVELY ON MUBI.
---Milan Paurich