By John H. Foote (**) Netflix / In Theatres Based on the timely, inflammatory memoir by J.D. Vance, this new film from Ron Howard has some tremendously fine moments, even some truly great acting, but Howard is the film’s great liability. Best known for his mainstream, slick and shiny Hollywood hits, Howard is quite often…
By John H. Foote (****) In Theatres / Streaming on Netflix (December) The American Film Institute routinely names Citizen Kane (1941) the greatest film of all time each time the group comprises its list of the 100 Greatest American Films. As well as being a film critic, I also taught Film History for 15 years…
By Marie-Renee Goulet (***) Documentary on Apple TV+ 11 BINGE WORTH EPISODES If you have itchy feet after spending nearly a year at home like me, you might consider binging on Long Way Up (2020). Actors and best friends Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their usual support crew meet for the third time, for an…
By John H. Foote (***) In Limited Theatres Had anyone ever told me that the Clint Eastwood of the seventies would age into a formidable, very fine actor, I would have laughed in their face. Squinting, steel jaws Dirty Harry (1971) or the man who frolicked with an orangutan, a fine actor? Sure. Yet through…
By John H. Foote (***) Now Streaming on Apple Every time Sofia Coppola makes a film I am excited that it might be something very special, that it could be the one to bring this gifted young woman an Academy Award or Directors Guild Award for Best Director. Will she ever equal her film Lost…
By John H. Foote (****) In Theatres/Netflix There was a time Steven Spielberg was going to direct this, but it never seemed to jell, not even the great Spielberg could get the film off the ground. As the project bounced around it eventually fell at the feet of Emmy Award winning, and Academy Award winning…
By John H. Foote (BOMB) In limited theatres Why? That question burned through my mind as I found myself attempting to endure this film without screaming out loud, “WHY”!? Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, are worth a combined $590 million dollars – De Niro $500 million, Walken $50 million, Thurman $45 million –…
By Alan Hurst (***) Now Streaming on Netflix When Mart Crowley’s play The Boys in the Band opened off-Broadway in 1968 it quickly became a very big deal. Set in Manhattan’s West Village, it was a play about a group of gay men, built around a birthday celebration in the apartment of one of the…
By John H. Foote (***) I apologize in advance for the use of a single word in this review. I detest the word, but to make my point, needed to use it. Truly, I am sorry for its inclusion. Though it is fact Cassius Clay (before he was Ali), Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim…
By John H. Foote (**) Now in theatres Let me state that the complaints about the sound mix of Tenet are absolutely true, the dialogue is often impossible to decipher. It is hard enough to figure out the wild narrative that requires your absolute attention, but when you cannot hear what many of the characters…