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Category: Movies

  • Meet Me in the Bathroom Review: The NY Rock Scene of the Early Aughts

    Meet Me in the Bathroom is a documentary film directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, based upon the book of the same name by Lizzy Goodman, and the name of a Strokes song from their 2003 album, Room on Fire. So, it’s no surprise that The Strokes are the headliner of this ode to…

  • The Fabelmans: Spielberg Tells Us How a Train Wreck Started It All

    It’s 1952 and eight-year-old Sammy Fabelman is heading to the big, dark movie theater with his parents. Cecil B Demille’s circus spectacle, “The Greatest Show on Earth,” is on the marquee. Sammy is mesmerized throughout the movie, but it’s the pile-up train crash done with miniatures that forever opens his eyes wide open. He asks…

  • Moonage Daydream Review: A Chaotic Collage of Bowie’s Sound and Vision

    The documentary film, Moonage Daydream, begins with a Nietzche quote, followed by Bowie’s voice, then images of the moon. It’s a telling intro to the musical/visual mash-up that awaits you. You may find it a frustrating audio-visual sensory overload. Or a mesmerizing sound and vision experience. I land somewhere in the middle. I found the…

  • Jessica Chastain: What’s the Versatile Actress Been Up to Lately?

    An Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Nominated for The Help and Zero Dark Thirty. Lead roles in Miss Sloane, Molly’s Game, A Most Violent Year, Interstellar, It: Chapter Two, and The Martian. What do they all have in common? Jessica Chastain. Versatile indeed, a wide range of roles portraying strong, flawed women often…

  • Academy of Motion Pictures Museum: Finally, a Shrine for Movies

    First, my October 7, 2022 weekend trip to L.A. celebrated a 100th anniversary (see previous post New Order & Pet Shop Boys: A Hollywood Bowl Synthsation) and then the next day a one-year birthday for what will become another L.A. cultural institution. After years of dreaming and planning, the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum opened…

  • Elvis Movie Review: Austin Butler is Sensational, Tom Hanks Not So Much

    Never thought I’d rave about a relative unknown actor while questioning Tom Hanks’ performance. But that’s the undeniable conclusion after seeing Elvis; Baz Luhrmann’s (The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge) glitzy, amped-up rock biopic. Butler is a tour de force as Elvis, particularly in his gyrating heyday. There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on and the…

  • Top Superhero Movies of All Time by Rolling Stone

    I’m not the right person for a superhero movie best-of list. While I enjoyed Black Panther, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, early Spider-Man and Superman, and particularly the Dark Knight Batman trilogy, much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a mystery to me. I haven’t seen any of the Avengers, Captain America, Deadpool, Thor, Doctor…

  • Thirteen Lives Review: Ron Howard’s Chronicle of the Thai Cave Rescue

    Since I missed its premier on the National Geographic Channel and don’t have Disney+, I haven’t seen The Rescue, a 2021 documentary from filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (see Post-Olympics Letdown? Try Rowing and Climbing for a review of their death-defying Free Solo). So, I was glad to see Ron Howard’s new feature…

  • Movie Review: Showtime’s Inspiring Documentary About the Life of Sheryl Crow

    It started with a McDonald’s jingle. Then dancing and singing on tour with Michael Jackson. Ultimately over fifty million albums sold. Nine Grammy Awards (32 nominations). The relationship with Lance Armstrong. Breast cancer. Sheryl Crowe has lived a lot in her 60 years. Sheryl, Showtime’s 2022 film, delivers what you hope for in a documentary:…

  • Jurassic Park Dominion Review: Let’s Hear it for the Dinosaurs One More Time

    Dinosaurs. They roamed the earth two hundred million plus years ago, were wiped out in a mass extinction, and have fascinated us since the first fossils were discovered in the early 19th century. The term “dinosaur,” meaning “terrible lizard,” was coined by Richard Wright in 1841. Later, fossil records showed that birds are actually feathered…

  • Operation Mincemeat: Netflix’s Absurd, Extraordinary, and True WWII Drama

    Schindler’s List. Imitation Game. The Darkest Hour. Hacksaw Ridge. Zookeeper’s Wife. Valkyrie. The Monuments Men. Add Operation Mincemeat to the long list of relatively unknown and unbelievably true stories from World War II. The 2022 film, directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love), based on the novel of the same name by Ben Macintyre, is…

  • Windfall Movie Review: A Slow Burn Thriller Blows Up

    A tranquil courtyard and stripped-down tense music. Serene, beautiful California landscape complete with orchards and a swimming pool. Seven minutes of silence as a man cruises around the property, gains entry inside the house, helps himself to a glass of OJ, pees in the shower, and riffles through drawers for valuables. The wealthy homeowners unexpectedly…