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‘The Union’ Doesn’t Make a Lick of Sense, Which Makes Sense
I’m no stranger to lament when it comes to the disintegration of quality in what passes for movies today, but then along comes a bucket of swill like The Union to remind me things are even worse than...
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Hemingway’s Worst Novel Gets Worse: ‘Across the River’ Is a Dull, Pointless...
Does anyone know how to make a movie these days that makes sense, with enough plot, narrative coherence and character development to keep a viewer from falling asleep? Hope springs eternal, but the...
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‘The Thicket’ Review: Blood, Violence and Little Else in This Bleak Western
The search never ends for ways to make old genres like cowboy movies look fresh and different. To this purpose, there is a shoot-em-up called The Thicket. No cowboys here, but it’s still a Western,...
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‘Speak No Evil’ Collapses in Carnage
Remakes are odious, but Speak No Evil, while thoroughly unneeded and unasked for, is an Americanized remake of a 2022 thriller from Denmark that services its original material well, thanks mostly to a...
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Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone Are a Perfect Pair in ‘The Roommate’
Mia Farrow has not been on a Broadway stage for so long that we forgot how much we missed her. Now she’s back in a new play called The Roommate, and she’s forgotten nothing, so why should we? She’s...
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Who Can Blame an Apathetic Halle Berry? ‘Never Let Go’ Is Relentlessly Obtuse.
A state of desperate deprivation that signifies the lack of imagination that plagues most movies today and deprives decent performers from doing their usual work with pride is seriously damaging a lot...
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Kate Winslet’s Transfixing Performance Makes ‘Lee’ Vivid and Unforgettable
Great biopics about great people demand great writing and great centerpiece performances. The splendid film Lee, a riveting, honorable and comprehensive chronicle about the extraordinary life, work...
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Michael Keaton Shines in ‘Goodrich’—A Heartfelt Comeback for Real Men on Screen
One of the things I like best about watching Michael Keaton on the screen in movies, good or bad (and especially in human and often hilarious comedies like Goodrich), is the rare and gratifying skill...
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‘Left On Tenth’ Is Funny, Touching, Intelligently Written And Beautifully Acted
If you’re a veteran theatergoer lamenting the absence of good, old-fashioned love stories on Broadway, hope has arrived. Left on Tenth—the new play by Delia Ephron, the playwright and sister of...
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‘Juror #2’ Proves Clint Eastwood Is Still a Master of Suspense—and Hollywood
Politically, we might be on different planets, but my admiration and respect for director Clint Eastwood is boundless when it comes to movies. Now in his 90s, the iconic action star turned filmmaker...
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‘Here’ Goes Nowhere: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and the AI Gimmick that Fell Flat
If you think Tom Hanks cannot make a bad movie, you haven’t seen Here. This phony, gimmicky and tedious waste of time might not be the first film in the abominable new process called A.I., but I pray...
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Hugh Grant Goes Full Villain in ‘Heretic’—But Who’s Really Terrified?
So much junk has already been written about the risky change of pace Hugh Grant exhibits in an overrated, undercooked fright flick called Heretic that it seems purposeless to contribute more. I’ll...
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‘Maybe Happy Ending’ Is The Most Original, Most Beautiful Musical In Eons
A new Broadway musical about people in love? OK. A new Broadway musical about people in love who are robots? I don’t think so. That’s what I feared when I arrived with trepidation at the Belasco...
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Surviving ‘Swept Away’: A Maritime Disaster in More Ways Than One
Fool that I am, I was excited to hear of a new Broadway play called Swept Away, figuring it would be a sexy adaptation of the great 1974 Italian film by Lina Wertmuller, unsuccessfully remade in 2002...
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‘The Order’ Review: Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult Deliver Gripping, Timely Thrills
With a strong cast, tight script, and exemplary direction, The Order is first-rate filmmaking above and beyond the usual expectations of your standard thriller. It’s the true story behind the FBI...
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‘Maria’ Review: Angelina Jolie Shines in a Visually Stunning but Lifeless Biopic
At the top of her fame, when Maria Callas lived in New York and potential opera singers would lie, cheat, beg, steal or hock their rent money to gain admittance to one of her music lessons, the...
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I Was There: Rex Reed on ‘September 5’ and the Munich Olympics Tragedy
The massacre in Munich—when 11 Israeli athletes were held hostage and murdered by a group of Palestinian terrorists called Black September while the world looked on—may be 52 years old now, but thanks...
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Pamela Anderson Stuns in ‘The Last Showgirl’, but Jamie Lee Curtis Steals the...
Wafting around the edges of minor movies and forgettable TV shows since her initial impact in 1987 in the series Baywatch, fading Canadian beauty Pamela Anderson finds a worthy vehicle at last in The...
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‘Liza’ Shows More Than Anything You’ll Ever See Anywhere Else
No need to know the rest of it. One name says it all. There were other stars named Judy, but only one named Garland. With Liza, that’s all there is. This colorful, star-spangled documentary, assembled...
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‘Wolf Man’ Is a Howling Disaster That Mauls the Classic Horror Legacy
Does anyone know how to make a good, scary, entertaining or even passable horror film anymore? With the junk that crowds the marquees these days as evidence, the answer is a sad, emphatic NO! The most...
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